Vancouver art gallery hosting tea ceremony to combat coronavirus-related racism
Posted February 18, 2020 2:49 pm.
Last Updated February 20, 2020 12:03 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A Vancouver art gallery is hosting a tea ceremony to combat misinformation and racism related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The Sunzen Art Gallery will welcome the public to its downtown Howe Street location this Sunday for a traditional tea ceremony.
The event comes in the wake of numerous reports of racism faced by Chinese-Canadian people in Vancouver and Chinese restaurants losing business seemingly due to fears of COVID-19 infection.
Lin Li, a tea ceremony organizer, said she has personally faced racism recently when a woman accosted her at a SkyTrain station and blurted the name of the virus to her face.
“That makes my day really messed up since I did nothing wrong,” she said. “This experience of being excluded by the local community is really very terrible.”
It’s understandable that people are worried about COVID-19, Li said, but that doesn’t excuse racism.
“There is no reason to be afraid and hate somebody because you’re afraid of a certain kind of virus,” she said, “because for lots of Asian people, they have been living in this land for so many years.”
Li said she hopes the tea ceremony brings people together in these anxious types.
“We hope people can experience the most relaxing feeling of sitting together with each other and taste … perhaps the best aged Pu’er tea in Vancouver,” she said, referring to the tea that will be served at the ceremony.
In addition to tea and snacks, ceremony attendees will be provided with fact sheets about COVID-19 and how to mitigate associated risks.
Anyone wanting to attend a tea ceremony can show up from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday at 420 Howe St. Admission is by donation, with all proceeds going to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s emergency response fund.
