Aberdeen Centre’s family of zodiac ‘babies’ together at last

Joey Kwan positively beams with pride as she revealed the last of her 12 “babies” to the public.

Each year for the last 12 years, Kwan, Aberdeen Centre’s director of public relations, has helped create each of the dozen, colourful people-sized characters that represent the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Every year, she has kept her creation up her sleeve, only to reveal the finished design in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year, which is Feb. 5 this year.

And, seeing as this is her 12^th year at Aberdeen Centre, the last of her zodiac “babies” – the pig - has been unveiled in a Chinese garden in the shopping centre’s central atrium and takes pride of place, in sequence, alongside his 11 zodiac siblings.

“All these characters, I have been saving up for the past 12 years at Aberdeen, now they are all revealed together for the first time,” smiled Kwan.

“The first year I came to Aberdeen, I developed the mouse and then developed them all; I worked with our designer over the years to create each one. We developed them together; they are like our babies.”

Taking the Richmond News on a tour around the “garden,” Kwan introduced each one as if it was a member of her family.

Here’s what she had to say about each of them, right up to this year, the Year of the Pig:

Tiger: He is very courageous and brave and not afraid to take on a challenge;

Rabbit: And agile, cute and friendly person;

Dragon: Is symbolic of being loyal; everyone likes to have a son born in the Year of the Dragon;

Snake: Is very smart, agile and adept to changes;

Horse: They like to run free in the field, but don’t give them too many rules;

Lamb: This one tends to have a very gentle temper, accepts changes well and is a very understanding person;

Monkey: He is very energetic, is non-stop and intelligent;

Chicken: A very patient person who loves detail and fashion;

Dog: He is a stable and faithful person, who likes to sticks to the rules and guards his homeland well;

Pig: Is very gentle, like the lamb, works well with people and has a good temper.

Kwan said the design of her characters is very much created with an “East meets West” theme.

“Aberdeen Centre is very much East meets West; so you can see the characters have a Western, cartoon-style, cute face, but are dressed with Chinese traditional costumes,” she said.

“Western people are very interested in our zodiac signs. Every show I put on (at the centre) starts from my mind.”

As well as the people-sized Chinese zodiac animals, the garden is littered with giant gold coins, giant mandarin plants and cherry blossom trees.

“I created this scene for selfies and Instagram hits, as well,” Kwan added.

Aberdeen Centre’s Chinese New Year (CNY) events kick off Wednesday, Jan. 30 with the Chinese New Year Flower & Gift Fair, which runs to Feb. 5.

Beyond the flower and gift fair, Aberdeen starts ramping up for CNY on Monday, Feb. 4 with countdown celebrations starting at 8:30 p.m., including Fairchild Radio’s pre-countdown stage show and personal blessings from the God of Fortune at 10:30 p.m.

Aberdeen’s Golden Dragon and Lion Dance takes place on CNY itself on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 11 a.m. in the courtyard.

And on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9 and 10, Aberdeen plays host to the CNY Cultural Showcase Celebration, which features performances from the BC Chinese Music Association and Vancouver Academy of Dance on the Saturday and Vancouver Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Colors of Dance Academy on the Sunday.

For more information, go online to AberdeenCentre.com/en/events.