Yip Yip Horray!

It’s an ‘everlasting’ family event. And it’s sure to go down in the books as one of the biggest family reunions in Vancouver history. Nearly 400 Yips, whose family name means ‘everlasting green,’ are flocking to Chinatown from all across North America.

The five generations of Yips are polishing up on their jokes, getting out the recent baby pictures and putting on their finest in preparation for the first weekend of August.

"The young Yips are giving up their Saturday night to come to this reunion," said Grace Yip, the Vancouver family matron who planned the entire event. "Doesn’t that say something? It’s Saturday night!"

Yip abodes throughout Metro Vancouver will be packed to the brim when the rest of their clan arrives from Boston, Texas, Washington, DC, and all across Canada.

The last time the Yip family came together was 12 years ago, and a lot has changed, said Grace, who has spent over a year planning for the event. She and her husband, Hoy, have been busy at their Vancouver residence adding the latest branches to a family tree that boasts over 800 names.

"Each generation has a different colour so you can see what generation you belong to," she said. "My nephew in Ottawa has computerized the whole thing in Technicolor and so right now we’re printing out a 2008 family tree covering six generations."

Really, this is a woman who has thought of everything. Grace has been taking orders from family members who want a print out of the 24-by-36-inch family tree. She has even bought cardboard tubes so that the ‘trees’ can be transported safely on return flights following the family celebration.

Some of Metro Vancouver’s Yips, however, are a little bit yipped off. Both David Yip, who works as a manager at Impark, and Clarence Yip, a realtor with Century 21, had not heard about the reunion.

"Perhaps it’s a closed invitation to only certain Yips," opined David Yip. "But it would be interesting to see if we shared the same lineage."

With a guest list of over 400 people, the Yip family reunion is sure to be a blast. For Saturday night, Grace has made reservations at Chinatown’s popular Floata Seafood Restaurant on Keefer Street for all 400 family members to sit at 36 tables — no small-time feat, she laughed.

In a weekend jam-packed with family activities, perhaps the most exciting function is a family tour of 51-67 East Pender — a Victorian Italianate structure built in 1889 by Chinese pioneer Sang Yip to house his four wives and 23 children.

Today, the old Yip building is Chinatown’s oldest standing structure.

Bob Rennie, Vancouver’s king of real estate and the new owner of the 27,000 square foot-heritage building, had invited the Yip family back home to see his restored project, which he has turned into his business headquarters and a contemporary art museum.

"When I bought the building in 2004, Grace sent me a picture of their reunion that took place in 1996 and so I told her that I would like them to use it first for another reunion," he said. "We hoped the building would be finished, but because of the intricacies of saving a heritage building, it’s only 75 per cent finished."

Rennie, who was raised on the Eastside, plans to move his 32-member staff to the Wing Sang Building in March of next year, where he says he feels more comfortable moving his business than to a high rise in the financial district.

"I think Chinatown is such an amazing few blocks that it needs balance brought back," Rennie said. "The building has a huge responsibility to the community, which I did not take lightly. There is still the Downtown Eastside that is trying to figure itself out and that’s not going to change right away but we want to start bringing some balance to the area."

As the renovations are not quite complete, Rennie ordered hundreds of red hard hats for the Yip family to wear while they tour the Wing Sang Building. At 12-noon on Saturday 400 Yips will cross Pender Street from the Chinese Cultural Centre to the heritage building in a sea of red plastic.

"It’s going to be amazing," said Grace. "We’re all just so excited."

Much of the reunion is dedicated to teaching the younger Yips about Sang Yip, who founded the Wing Sang Company — one of the region’s largest import export businesses. He is, after all, the reason the Yips are on the West Coast.

"In 1864 at age 19, Yip sailed from China to California where he worked as a dishwasher and a cook. Seventeen years later, he came to Vancouver where he settled in Chinatown in 1881," according to Raymond Reitsma, who wrote a biography about Yip Sang for the City of Vancouver.

"In 1882, he was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad Supply Company, where he worked as a bookkeeper, timekeeper, paymaster and then as the Chinese superintendent."

Yip Sang would grow to become indispensable to the railway’s construction. While employed at the CPR, Yip Sang was in charge of the 7,000 labourers who helped build the railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And when he established the Wing Sang Company, he supplied the CPR with large contingents of its goods and labour force.

Much of Saturday afternoon will be attributed to Yip Sang, who died in Vancouver in 1927. Grace has been busy practicing for weeks with a dozen of the Yip kids for a stage performance about the pioneer’s life.

"We’re just trying to paint the picture of why grandfather had four wives and what the traditions were in the house and the family," she said. "We want to educate the younger generations."

12 noon: Guided tour of Wing Sang Building

3 pm: Chinese Cultural Centre & Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens

Hours of entertainment, photo viewing and reminiscing at the

7 pm: A Peking Duck Dinner at Floata Seafood Restaurant

10 am: Guided tour of the permanent Yip Sang Collections at the Vancouver Museum at Vanier Park

12 noon: Luncheon in the Joyce Walley Learning Centre at the Museum