A Year of Blessings

A Year of Blessings is a 5-episode radio play series for young audiences that celebrates diasporic culture through a Chinese Canadian lens. Originally written and recorded in English with cinematic sound design and original songs by Robyn Jacob, Amanda Sum, and Kristin Fung, each 30-minute episode explores a unique Chinese holiday-Lunar New Year, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Winter Solstice.

This work is chiefly created for little Chinese kids growing up in North America presently who may not have experience or access to knowledge about Chinese cultural traditions. This information deficit creates a detachment of emotional connection between one's ethnic culture and lived culture, thereby enlarging a generational gap that associates ethnic culture as the past and lived culture as the present. By retelling and reframing stories about Chinese holidays we hope to reinvigorate the audience's fascination toward integrating these cultural traditions into their lived culture.

Translation efforts are underway. Stay tuned in 2025 for the Cantonese version of this series along with its education guides!