Tag Archives: Robbie Burns Day

Gung haggis fat choy and Scottish/Chinese nanotechnology

I was reminded of a local (Vancouver, Canada) tradition when I read about a nanotechnology Chinese New Year’s card produced by a nanofabrication centre  in Scotland.

Before I get started on the Scottish researchers and their efforts, here’s a little bit about  the Vancouver tradition, which combines Scottish and Chinese celebrations for this time of year (Robbie Burns Day and the Lunar New Year). Started in 1997 by Todd Wong, Gung Haggis Fay Choy is a dinner integrating both traditions. Here’s more from the Miss604 website about this year’s (2012) event (I have removed the links that were included in this excerpt of a longer, more entertaining post that you might want to read in its entirety),

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is one unique event where you can catch poetry and Kung Fu, highland dancers performing with sheng players, and delicious deep-fried haggis dumplings. It’s an annual Vancouver tradition that combines Chinese New Year with Robbie Burns Day in a single event.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner

  • Date: January 22, 2012 (Chinese New Year’s Eve)
  • Time: 5:00pm (doors) 6:00pm (dinner)
  • Where: Floata Restaurant at #400 – 180 Keefer St, Vancouver
  • What: An 8-course Scottish/Chinese banquet dinner complete with entertainment

  • Hosts: TV and radio host Tetsuro Shigematsu, Parliamentary Poet Laureate Fred Wah, and scholar Dr. Jan Walls.
  • What to Wear: Kilts and tartans, as well as Chinese jackets and cheong-sam dresses are preferred. But our guests are dressed both formal and casual – be comfortable, be outrageous, be yourself.
  • The Dinner: Appetizers will arrive at the tables by 6:00pm and soon after, the dinner formalities begin. From then on a new dish will appear somewhere around 15 minutes, quickly followed by a co-host introducing a poet or musical performer.
  • Finale: The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:00pm and 9:30pm, with the singing of Auld Lang Syne. They start with a verse in Mandarin Chinese, then sing in English or Scottish [Gaelic?]. Participants can socialize further until 10:00pm.

Now for the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre”s (at the University of Glasgow) nod to the Chinese New Year, from the Jan. 19, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

It is so small that it cannot be seen by the naked eye – but a tiny Chinese New Year greetings card created by the University of Glasgow represents the huge potential for China to profit from Scottish innovation.

The card was produced by experts from the University’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre to showcase their world-leading expertise in nanotechnology ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations, which begins on Monday 23 January [2012].

Here’s the card,

University of Glasgow's James Watt Nanofabrication Centre's 2012 Chinese New Year of the Dragon card

I was expecting to read nanoscale measurements but after reading the details, I’d say this card is not so much a nanoscale-sized card but a microscale-sized card. Still, there is a reference to the ‘nano’,  (from the University of Glasgow Jan. 19, 2012 news release,

The card is 300 micro-metres wide by 200 micro-metres tall (a micro-metre is one-millionth of a metre). It is so small that 21,600 of them could fit on an area the size of the China Post’s 36mm-by-36mm 2012 Chinese New Year commemorative stamp. The Chinese characters are just 45 micro-metres tall, and the dragon is just 116 micro-metres long. By comparison, the width of a human hair is about 100 micro-metres.

Professor David Cumming and Dr Qin Chen from the University’s School of Engineering etched the Chinese characters and dragon image onto a very small piece of glass. The manufacturing process took just 30 minutes.

“The colours were produced by plasmon resonance in a patterned aluminium film made in our James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. The underlying technology has some very important real world applications in bio-technology sensing, optical filtering and light control components, and advances in micro and nanofabrication for the electronics industry. [emphasis mine] …”

The most interesting (to me) part of this communication, after seeing the card, is this bit about Scotland-China relations,

 The card was developed in conjunction with Scottish Development International (SDI), Scotland’s international trade and investment body.

SDI Chief Executive Anne MacColl said: “Nanotechnology is just one area in which Scotland is considered a world leader. From renewable energy to life sciences, digital media to ICT and education to financial services, Scotland has a wealth of expertise, skilled people and knowledge.

“Chinese firms can gain a competitive edge by partnering with Scottish universities and companies across these critical high growth sectors. Innovation is key to China’s economic development and SDI’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai are on hand to help Chinese universities and firms learn more about the benefits of international partnership.”

Many examples of collaboration between Scotland and China exist today, particularly in the field of innovation-based research and development. Four mainland Chinese companies are investors in Scotland and a number of Scotland’s world-leading universities have research partnerships and joint ventures in place with Chinese academic institutions and corporations. Scotland’s First Minister recently made his third visit to China in two years, underpinning Scotland’s commitment to growing business and academic links with China even further.

To all of us, Happy New Year of the Dragon (Gung Hay Fat Choy)!