Wonton maker by day and space maker by night, her cackles can be heard from down the street. You can always find Hannia Cheng dancing wherever the music feels good.
Hannia Cheng is most recently invested in social practice as a means of community care, creating agency, and building capacity at Tea Base. If you don't see her in Chinatown, she's probably riding her bike to a gig somewhere on stage singing, hosting, dancing, organizing, doing whatever she wants.
“I continuously grow through uncomfortable and transformative periods and have witnessed myself come out on the other side — a fuller version of myself. ”
What’s it like growing up in the same house your whole life?
I grew up in a nuclear family with happily married parents, in the same neighborhood, in the same room my entire life… even now! Especially as the youngest of three children, I grew up (still am) quite spoiled.
We’re all familiar with the endless list of complexities that get lost in translation with immigrant parents but I’m eternally grateful for their support as caregivers to provide me with such a secure and comfortable place to self-actualize (at times, a little too comfortable).
There’s an incredibly deep sense of companionship I have with myself that comes with experiencing all your growing pains being reflected back at you in one physical space for your entire life. It’s as overwhelming to hold and contend with as much as it’s also a grounding reminder of my tender resilience. I continuously grow through uncomfortable and transformative periods and have witnessed myself come out on the other side — a fuller version of myself.
“At every point, all of life is whispering… stop. Take a deeper look, encounter you.” - Duane Hall
What’s it like growing up in downtown Toronto?
This city is all I know. I love and hate this place so much. Kids who are born and raised in Toronto exist at a very particular intersection of pretentiousness and being unapologetic as fuck. Because my home life was secure, I gave myself permission to fully explore all the pockets and corners of the city to, you know, “find myself”.
From throwing some of the first AirBnB house parties as a teenager (whoops), to handing out flyers at the end of events as a side hustle (I became friends with a lot of bouncers), to being a professional face-to-face street fundraiser for 3 years, to the countless times I didn’t want to say hi to someone because they didn’t say hi first (don’t lie, we’re all guilty of this. It’s quintessential screw face capital behaviour), to co-parenting a DIY community art space in Chinatown that opened last year.
Only now am I realizing how much privilege I have in being able to contextualize my locality. I’ve had the pleasure of nurturing meaningful relationships full of reciprocity for almost 10, 20 years at this point! The sitcom that is my life is that of a care-free bubble where my friends and I make art, do whatever we want, and proudly take up space in public while we laugh loudly.
“Success is when you can allocate resources within your network that you've fostered to other people.” - Lily Hu
How has your relationship to your mom changed over the years?
I was a shit disturbing teenager to say the least. Imagine having a child that was failing high school (I barely graduated), going out 7 days a week, never coming home for dinner, whose arm seemed to be perpetually filling up with tattoos. At some point they fully gave up on me which was equally as freeing as it was heartbreaking.
I decided to cancel my identity and cultural heritage (I failed grade 10 math 3 times to make a statement). I wanted to fit in with the white kids in the lunchroom. I wanted to fit in with the black kids at the shows and jams. At the time, I didn’t know what it was, but all the racism, misogyny, and homophobia I had internalized was surfacing, so I coped by rejecting all of it.
There’s been some tough conversations and some serious decolonizing over the last 4 years. I’ve learned through a rebellious path that there’s nothing to be ashamed about. The more I embrace who I am as ever-changing, the more I re-learn how to nurture myself with kindness and empathy, and the more I want to understand who and where I come from.
My household is 100% a Matriarchy. My mom is in charge of all the finances and has the final say in everything. I respect my mother's stubborn nature and strength a lot. I'm like fucking honored to be her child. I won this fancy municipal “Pam Mcconnell award for women in leadership” this year. I’m pretty sure I made her proud with that one.
What are your core values? Something like a personal mission statement if you will.
I am a bullet journal fanatic. They are my self proclaimed spell books. They give me a semblance of control in an otherwise unpredictable world. I review them regularly, and more often than not, whatever I write into them comes into fruition one way or another. After all, they don’t call it spell-ing for nothing.
Anyway, at the start of each spell book I’ll write:
create art and share
knowledge of self in context to others
unapologetically grow inside-out
practice patience, gratitude, resilience
in spiritual solitude
ask for abundance
be vulnerable, be curious, be forgiving
love* deeply
slow down, listen more, fail forward, cry
breath, drink water, laugh, use your hands
remember to dance
consistency is key for a wholesome discipline
keep going for future you, without judgement or shame
keep trying, with care and compassion
in process with yourself — traversing through time and space
*love is the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth which includes: care, affection, affirmation, trust, responsibility, commitment, respect, open and honest communication - bell hooks
What are some of the biggest teachings from Tea Base since its opening 1 year ago?
As I mentioned earlier, I am a co-parent to a DIY community art space called Tea Base. It's located in the basement of Chinatown Centre which is a semi-recluse mall at 222 Spadina Ave. My very first teaching was 4 months into the gig and finally coming to the conclusion that I didn’t want to do it alone anymore (even though my Capricorn sun would love to pretend like it’s fine and then implode with power). What would be the point of this adventure if I didn’t do it with other people?
16 months later, I can honestly say the biggest teachings so far are the value of relationships. Everyone knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone. Often framed as something to extract from until it's empty and then disposed of because we currently live in a capitalist, colonial, white supremacist, patriarchal hellscape, but actually, it’s something that can alternatively exist as an abundant sustainable thriving ecosystem that connects all of us if we choose to care for each other.
On the flip side, I’m coming to terms with how other people's struggles are not my responsibility. As much as they’d like to project or pedestal me, it’s not personal (easier said than done). By taking on other people’s problems, I’d be taking away their agency and self-determination to solve their own problems. I’ve made decisions out of guilt, pity, and insecurity which ends up hurting everyone. I’m working on slowing down to check in with my intentions and loving myself to find the courage to set healthy boundaries and stand up for them (even if it means letting other people down).
I’m practicing the future when I show up and do the work. All of it adds to the on-going conversation about the speculative-futures that exist in the greater unknown of our daily lives. With enthusiasm and imagination, I want to help empower a collective undertaking that can support and nurture one another through a process of taking responsibility for our own lives that starts from the inside-out.
In all its bliss and chaos, Tea Base is scaled through relationships. This adventure has only just started and all of it will be scaled by how these relationships transform, evolve, and all the teachings they bring along with them.
“Relationships move at the speed of trust, social movements move at the speed of relationships.” - Jennifer Bailey
Find Hannia on the internet at: @chachengster