Highbrow Magazine - Chinese https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/chinese en Defying Censors: Breaking Bad of the Chinese Language https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24070-defying-censors-breaking-bad-chinese-language <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 09:00</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1chineselanguage.jpg?itok=jPk_gBuQ"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1chineselanguage.jpg?itok=jPk_gBuQ" width="480" height="284" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The other day I was chatting with a childhood friend on China’s version of WhatsApp or Telegram, known as <em>WeChat</em>. At one point I had to make a reference to the biblical flooding that befell Beijing and its surrounding area recently -- such a tragedy or, in Chinese, such a <em>beiju. </em>As we all know, Chinese – Mandarin, Cantonese, or any other dialect -- is not a phonetic language. I could not just type the romanized literation of <em>beiju. </em>Words must be represented as Chinese characters. I typed “杯具” (cups and glasses) instead of  “悲剧” (tragedy).  I could get away with it because they are pronounced the same way. And my friend needed no extra hit to pick up the meaning behind “cups and glasses.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Misspelling, as I did with the word “tragedy,” is just one of many techniques today’s Chinese netizens employ to evade the government’s dragnet of online censorship. When the flood was raging, words like “tragedy”<em> </em>immediately made their way into the censor’s dictionary of sensitive words and were blocked. Why would the government not block its homophone <em>cups and glasses</em> then? Because the Chinese language is full of ubiquitous homophones. Without seeing what is written in Chinese characters to represent the pronunciation of <em>beiju, </em>it is literally a wild guess to decipher the meaning. It could mean the encounter of a rejection, or a residence in the north. The censor would have to paralyze the language in its entirety in order to block all possible homophones of sensitive words on their ever-growing long list.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The linguistic purist in me feels guilty when I butcher the Chinese language to evade censorship and to enjoy a momentary freedom of expression. I know my elementary Chinese teacher, known for her short temper and fierce nickname of <em>Dragon Lady </em>– may she rest in peace – would have hissed at me if she saw how badly I spell in online chat and posts nowadays. I cannot bear imagining the trauma she would sustain if she witnessed the deliberate and ruthless surgery I perform on the language to get my message across. I’m sorry Dragon Lady, but the Chinese zeitgeist is a linguistic surgeon hellbent on malpractice. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2chineselanguage.jpg" style="height:652px; width:435px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The freedom-fighter in me, on the other hand, delights in the mutilation and encryption of Chinese vocabulary and grammar. Damn, it feels good to break bad when you do Chinese netspeak: the joy of saying something cryptic and knowing your message will get across. The schadenfreude of sending the censor into a maze collectively designed by the 1 billion ingenious Chinese netizens. The intricate nooks and crannies of this guilty pleasure are impossible to translate to an English speaker, but I thought I should at least make a valiant attempt anyway.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Here is a short but far-from-exhaustive list of ways a Chinese speaker can participate in the breaking bad of the Chinese language:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Use the passive voice where it is grammatically inappropriate.</strong> This is one popular way of hinting at the sinister nature of the action you are describing. For example, if you are fired from a job and forbidden to complain about it, you can force a grammatically incorrect passive voice on the verb “quit.” You would say something like, “I was suddenly <em>resigned by my boss</em> the other day.” Or if a Chinese Communist Party official in your apartment building jumped out of his window and killed himself in the midst of a criminal investigation, you can simply regale the story as “a cadre <em>was suicided</em> by jumping out of the window,” and everyone would know there was a visible or invisible hand that pushed him out of the window.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3chineselanguage.jpg" style="height:382px; width:662px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Use euphemisms.</strong> Don’t refer to things by their real names. Use clever euphemisms. This means you would refer to China as <em>hell of a country</em> and the United States as the hell of fire and flood to amplify the irony in the government’s propaganda. What if the subject matter does not have a widely accepted euphemism? Well, that is when you misspell and take advantage of a homophone.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Break a character into two.</strong> The leader of North Korea, Kim Jung-un, is commonly referred to as Fat Guy Number Three after his father (Number Two) and his grandfather (Number One) among Chinese. However, the character for “fat” can be broken into two component characters (known as radicals) and those two subcharacters are “month” and “half.” Therefore, if someone says something about “Three Month and Half,” it is a reference to the leader of China’s neighbor.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Speak Chinglish.</strong> The Chinese government has long replaced the Wade-Giles romanization of Chinese words with a system called <em>pinyin. </em>Pinyin got rid of a lot of quirky literation like “hsie” and “tse” and “jongg” that are not found in common English words and made it easier for Chinese to learn. By the same taken, it creates a great deal of Chinese words whose romanized literation happen to mean something in English. The prime example is the Chinese word 润 (to lubricate) whose <em>pinyin</em> is spelt as <em>run</em>. And nowadays, the word 润 basically has lost its original Chinese meaning. Instead, everyone understands its adopted English meaning of “running.” And by logical extension, the meaning of “leave,” “escape,” or “immigrate.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4chineselanguage.jpg" style="height:434px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Use numerals.</strong> Just as the Japanese word <em>Yakuza</em> is “893,” today’s Chinese netspeak is full of cryptic numerals. “94” is used when someone agrees with you, because it sounds similar to the phrase “I agree” when you say it. “996” is the code for a salaryman’s lifestyle and means your work hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. If Portuguese speakers can understand a story written exclusively in verbs, an experienced Chinese netizen can understand a long paragraph of nothing but a bunch of numerals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Extreme plain speak.</strong> Today’s Chinese use vocabulary that are void of the language’s ancestral and intrinsic abstraction. The netizens talk like they have just graduated from a government-sponsored adult literacy night school. The phrases in high volume of circulation are deliberately unrefined. It follows the formula of saying as little as possible and understating it as much as possible but meaning as much as the listeners can conjure. Phrases like “lying down” mean far beyond the act of staying supine. It is rather the Slackers Manifesto of “Sorry, our dear Party, but I don’t feel like participating in your stupid game anymore.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I have met Americans who learned Chinese from ivy league universities back in the 1970s, following Henry Kissinger’s zealous suggestion. To members of that movement who have not kept up with the language, Chinese has evolved into a cyber lingua franca that demands a Mao-style rude re-education. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">But I am digging the “breaking bad” of my mother tongue, and I wish non-Chinese speakers can also appreciate this as much as I do.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5chineselanguage.jpg" style="height:335px; width:672px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Peter Chang is a pen name used by the author of this article.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--<a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Thirdman (</em><a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/overhead-shot-of-a-group-of-people-having-a-meeting-7652039/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Pexels</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Tookapic (</em><a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/people-asian-man-woman-male-932069/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Pixabay</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Alphabets alphabetical (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_alphabet.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--</em><a href="https://www.needpix.com/photo/1557305/china-land-smartphone-search-information-freedom-of-information-freedom-censorship-constraint" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Needpix</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-language" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese language</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mandarin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mandarin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cantonese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cantonese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-censors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese censors</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/wechat" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">wechat</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-alphabet" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese alphabet</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/speaking-chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">speaking chinese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/online-censorship" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">online censorship</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Peter Chang</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 07 Sep 2023 13:00:06 +0000 tara 12118 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24070-defying-censors-breaking-bad-chinese-language#comments Why Candidates Should Focus on Asian-American Voters in the Midterm Elections https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4377-why-candidates-should-focus-asian-american-voters-midterm-elections <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 10/20/2014 - 13:14</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3voters.jpg?itok=woMb120j"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3voters.jpg?itok=woMb120j" width="480" height="283" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/10/why-candidates-shouldnt-ignore-asian-american-voters.php">New America Media</a>:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) are a fast-growing population and as a voting bloc, their numbers have nearly doubled since 2000, but political candidates continue to ignore them, according to a new study.</p> <p> </p> <p>APIs are the fastest growing population in the United States, having outpaced Hispanic growth in 2012. In terms of political power, the API electorate nearly doubled to 3.9 million voters between 2000 to 2012, according to a poll of 1337 registered Asian American voters by Asian Americans Advancing Justice.</p> <p> </p> <p>The study highlighted several characteristics of this increasingly powerful electorate.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>1.</strong>         About a third (27 percent) of about 4 million API voters are “up for grabs.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“The largest group is ‘independent,’ or ‘don’t know,’” the survey found, “while among partisans, Democrats have a 2 to1 advantage.” The results are similar to findings in 2012, with one big difference: “There’s a stronger identification with Democrats among women in 2014 than in 2012,” according to the study,</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>2.</strong>         Asian American voters tend to favor Democrats on key issues.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The Democratic advantage is strongest on healthcare, income inequality, moderate gun control, immigration and smallest on taxes.” Republicans, on the other hand, are seen as stronger on national security. Notably, Vietnamese Americans by far find national security a “very important issue” at 72 percent, followed by Korean Americans at 56 percent.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3.         </strong>The role of ethnic media is a crucial source of information for API voters.</p> <p> </p> <p>Since API voters have the highest rates of limited English proficiency, (35 percent) and since 77 percent speak another language other than English at home, many rely on ethnic media to get their primary source of information. Vietnamese Americans lead among the the groups at 61 percent followed by Chinese Americans at slightly over half, Korean Americans at just over a third.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>4.</strong>         As a group, API voters favor Democrats in U.S. House races.</p> <p> </p> <p>Asian Indians emerged as the group with highest Democratic Party favorability at 68 percent, whereas Korean Americans leaned toward GOP candidates more than half the time, followed by Vietnamese Americans at 45 percent. But, there are two exceptions. “The two parties are evenly matched among Chinese Americans and Republican candidates hold an advantage among Vietnamese American voters,” according to the report.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>5.         </strong>Voter enthusiasm is the same as before.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4voters.jpg" style="height:402px; width:602px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Overall, women are not as enthusiastic as they were in the last election, and Vietnamese American voters and Republicans are the most enthusiastic this time around.</p> <p> </p> <p>“In elections to come, it is clear Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders will have the opportunity to influence positive change,” the study noted. “By 2025, APIs will make up 5 percent of the national electorate and by 2044, the group will constitute 10 of the national electorate.”</p> <p> </p> <p>This year, Asian American votes can also matter in battleground states. In competitive races, the API vote could mean the margin of victory. In Virginia, for instance, Asian Americans make up about 10 percent of eligible voters, and in Nevada, that number is about 11 percent, according to AAJC. “In 60 House races in the midterm elections, Asian Americans make up more than 8 percent of the district’s citizen voting age population,” the study noted.</p> <p> </p> <p>In May of 2014, Slate.com published a story with maps that got policy wonks talking. Entitled “Tagalog in California, Cherokee in Arkansas,” it showed how counterintuitive it might be for Americans to guess who’s where in America. Under the section of “Most common Language Spoken Other Than English and Spanish,” (in other words, the 3rd most popular language spoken) one is surprised to find that it’s Vietnamese in states like Washington, Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In Virginia and Georgia? It’s Korean. And in Hawaii, Nevada and California? It’s Tagalog.</p> <p> </p> <p>The map raises these questions: What are the fourth popular languages spoken in these states? Which will form formidable swing votes in the coming midterm and, more importantly, the primary in 2016? How will an increasingly powerful Asian American electorate affect American politics?</p> <p> </p> <p>The answers remain to be seen, but it’s clear that in potential battleground states like Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona, ignoring immigrant and minority voters would be detrimental to candidates of any political stripe.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The Asian American community is building civic and political infrastructures across the country,” writes the study authors, noting that, for example, Congressional candidates of API descent increased nearly fourfold to 39 in the last four years.</p> <p> </p> <p>The report warned that “it would be a mistake for political parties and candidates to overlook the Asian American vote.”  It recommended reaching API voters through ethnic media, in multiple languages, and candidates “must also think about the Asian American community from the start, not as an afterthought.”</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/asianvoters.jpg" style="height:262px; width:609px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Andrew Lam is an editor with New America Media and author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora," and "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres." His latest book is "Birds of Paradise Lost," a short story collection, was published in 2013 and won a Pen/Josephine Miles Literary Award in 2014.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/10/why-candidates-shouldnt-ignore-asian-american-voters.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/asian-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Asian Americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/asian-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">asian voters</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/asian-community" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Asian community</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/filipinos" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Filipinos</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vietnamese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vietnamese</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/korean-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">korean americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/early-voting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">early voting</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/midterm-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">midterm elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-candidates" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political candidates</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/elections-2014" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">elections 2014</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media; Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:14:27 +0000 tara 5328 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4377-why-candidates-should-focus-asian-american-voters-midterm-elections#comments High Rents Force New York Chinatown Retailers to Seek Out Other Locations https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4157-high-rents-force-new-york-chinatown-retailers-seek-out-other-locations <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 07/21/2014 - 11:40</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg?itok=G5sQA1YY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg?itok=G5sQA1YY" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/high-rents-push-nycs-chinatown-merchants-to-think-creatively.php">From Sing Tao Daily</a> and our content partner New America Media:</p> <p> </p> <p>NEW YORK CITY -- On a recent steamy Sunday afternoon, Mr. Chen, a shop owner in Chinatown, was watching the intense final game of the World Cup. But, he had to do it on the small screen of his cellphone, because his shop is not big enough to squeeze in even the tiniest TV set.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen doesn’t know how many square feet his shop has, but if he stretches his arms out, he could touch the walls on both sides. He sells everything from phone cards to bottled water, and his goods are either hung on the walls from the floor to the ceiling or piled on the counter outside of the window.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This might be the tiniest convenience store in Chinatown,” Chen said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Elsewhere in the city, this may not even be called a shop. It is basically a makeshift closet built under the Manhattan Bridge. Separated from the street by only a thin metal board, it is hotter than the street in the summer and colder in the winter. Subway trains running on the bridge wrap the shop in deafening rumbles that hurt Chen’s ears. But, for $1,000 per month, doubled from a decade ago, this is the only place he can afford in Chinatown.</p> <p> </p> <p>Just a few blocks north of Chen’s crammed shop is a different world. Ten or so spacious storefronts are completely empty, with “for rent” banners on the awnings covered in dust. Some of them have been left like that for more than a year, as new tenants can’t afford the increased rents after former tenants are pushed out.</p> <p> </p> <p>Thanks to skyrocketing rents in recent years, this eerie contrast – shops crammed into tiny spaces next door to vacancies of spacious storefronts -- has become a fixed image in Chinatown. Small businesses are struggling to make ends meet, and residents are worried the neighborhood with more than a hundred years of history may be sunsetting.</p> <p> </p> <p>Small businesses in the neighborhood have had their share of ups and downs. After 9/11, Chinatown merchants suffered a big drop in clientele, and some feared the neighborhood would not recover. Two years ago, a Business Improvement District (BID) was formed – charging businesses fees for services such as street cleaning – in an effort to give retailers a much-needed boost. Businesses have started to recover, but despite a rebounding real estate market in Lower Manhattan, Chinatown retailers are still struggling.</p> <p> </p> <p>High rents have already forced small entrepreneurs to think creatively and utilize every inch of possible (and impossible) space. And, now the Chinatown BID, a public-private partnership facilitating local business development, plans to go even further: To fight against the high rents, the organization plans to buy up vacant spaces and turn itself into a landlord.</p> <p> </p> <p>In its heyday, Chinatown rarely had any vacant storefronts, forcing tenants and businesses to think creatively. Any space that would allow one person to stand was turned into a commercial rental. Diminutive shops like Chen’s could be seen everywhere.</p> <p> </p> <p>Those who occupied bigger spaces often sublet out to other businesses to ease the rental pressure as well as to share customers. For example, the shop at 244 Grand Street houses four different businesses: Forever Health Pharmacy, Good Luck Jade, Crystal and Craft, and an AAE delivery counter.</p> <p> </p> <p>Before, merchants like Chen would have opted for a smaller space because of a lack of vacancies; now, they’re renting tiny spaces, because that’s all they can afford with soaring rents for commercial spaces. According to the Downtown Alliance, a business development organization, the cost of retail space on the lower Broadway corridor jumped 41 percent last year to $280 per square foot, an increase that more than doubled the 16 percent jump of the city’s average.</p> <p> </p> <p>Qitan Liu, who owns a delivery shop at 150 East Broadway, pays $3,600 a month in rent. His lease expires in August, and he says he’s worried his landlord will raise the rent, forcing him to move out of the space that he’s been in for 10 years. The two shops adjacent to his have already been pushed out and the spaces are open for rent. The one on his right has been vacant for two years.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The landlord would rather leave it empty and wait for a preferable tenant than lower the price,” said Liu.</p> <p> </p> <p>“High rent is fatal to the economy in Chinatown,” said Wellington Chen, who heads the Chinatown Business Improvement District. But to him, the vacant shops also offer a good opportunity for a renaissance.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen explained that a major reason for the rental increases is higher property taxes. Many Chinatown buildings are mixed-use with residential apartments under rent regulations by the authorities. So the landlords have to shift the taxes to the commercial tenants, he said. But BID as a nonprofit organization is exempt from paying property taxes.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2nycchinatown%20%28wiki%29.jpg" style="height:469px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>If the landlords of the vacant properties join the BID to form a co-op type property trust, he says, they might have to give up some privileges of full ownership, but they will be able to take advantage of the tax exemption and rent the spaces out to small businesses with long-term stable rent.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chen says the model, inspired by the artists’ co-ops in New York, has never been tried by any business organization as far as he knows.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It will take some time to persuade the city government because our plan may cost the city some tax revenues. But this is the best solution so far,” said Chen.</p> <p> </p> <p>Margaret Chin, the councilmember whose district includes Chinatown, is supportive.</p> <p> </p> <p>Chin said Chen’s idea is worth trying. “Solving this problem needs the efforts of all stakeholders in the community, and it needs some creative thinking,” said Chin.</p> <p> </p> <p>But for Meirong Song, the owner of a flower shop in Chinatown, says she doesn’t think Chen’s plan will work.</p> <p> </p> <p>When Song opened her shop at a booth in the Triple Eight Palace in 1992, her rent was $1,000 per month. In her last five-year lease, she paid $3,000 per month. But when the lease expired last year, the landlord wanted to raise the monthly rent to $12,000. So Song had to move out of the space she had occupied for more than 20 years, and into a tiny basement on the same street that costs $1,000 per month.</p> <p> </p> <p>Song said she desperately needs a stable rent, but “the BID’s idea won’t work.” Song said many property owners in Chinatown purchased their properties decades ago. They have paid off the mortgages and have no financial pressure. “They won’t have incentives to form a co-op,” said Song.</p> <p> </p> <p>Song has her own idea to lower her rent, and it can be summarized in one word: escape.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I may soon move to Flushing or Brooklyn,” she said. “I have given up on Chinatown in my heart.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Rong Xiaoqing is a reporter with Sing Tao.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>This story was supported through a New America Media/Wells Fargo small business reporting fellowship.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/high-rents-push-nycs-chinatown-merchants-to-think-creatively.php">From Sing Tao Daily</a> and our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown-stores" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinatown stores</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/retail" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">retail</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rents" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rents</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/soaring-rents" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">soaring rents</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rong Xiaoqing</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wikipedia Commons; Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 21 Jul 2014 15:40:55 +0000 tara 4979 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4157-high-rents-force-new-york-chinatown-retailers-seek-out-other-locations#comments Learning Chinese Is Now a Lucrative Investment in Zimbabwe https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2327-learning-chinese-now-lucrative-investment-zimbabwe <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 04/08/2013 - 09:45</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumchinese.jpg?itok=yG-4XS7n"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumchinese.jpg?itok=yG-4XS7n" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/04/in-zimbabwe-learning-chinese-is-a-lucrative-investment.php">New America Media</a> and <a href="http://www.un.org/africarenewal/">Africa Renewal</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> Ni hao, Chinese for “hello,” or ting bu dong, meaning “I hear you, but I don’t understand,” are two expressions one often overhears today in Zimbabwe’s capital. It is one of the results of tenacious efforts by governments, private companies and individuals across Africa, but in Zimbabwe particularly, to learn the Chinese language and understand China’s culture.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Learning Chinese as a second or third language has been a global trend in the last few years. In Africa, the rapid increase of Chinese investments and trade (China is currently the continent’s biggest trading partner) has spurred the trend.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Zimbabwe’s government has been very deliberate in enhancing its bilateral relationship with China. It launched the Look East Policy in 2003 to give priority to investors from China, Japan, Singapore and other countries from that region. As a result, trade between China and Zimbabwe has been growing exponentially — China is now the biggest buyer of Zimbabwe’s tobacco.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Although learning Chinese dates back to Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the late 1960s and 1970s when freedom fighters went to China for military training, the trend has now accelerated significantly, and for different reasons.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Confucius Institute</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> To spread the Chinese language and culture, the government of China is utilizing a concept called Confucianism. The Chinese believe that his thoughts have tremendously influenced Chinese culture and even had an impact other cultures. Chinese people refer to Confucius as “a greater teacher.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Zimbabwe leads the rest of the continent in the training of local teachers of Chinese, having integrated the Confucius Institute into the University of Zimbabwe’s academic structures in 2007, as part of an expanding network of about 400 Confucius Institutes worldwide. The program has largely been successful, and the university is poised to export surplus teachers of Chinese to other countries as well.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Professor Pedzisai Mashiri, the inaugural director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe, says that one of the institute’s goals is to promote the Chinese language and culture in Zimbabwe.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Because the government is yet to integrate Chinese into the national curriculum for primary and secondary schools, schools that host Confucius classes offer the Chinese language as an extra-curricular activity. More than a thousand students have received such language training through the institute since 2009. A few others are completing studies in China and will join the university soon.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>A Skill That Pays</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Observers say there has been a rising demand from organizations and individuals seeking to learn Chinese. Clarence Makoni, the founder of the Cendel Language Bridge, a private company that provides translations, interpretation and foreign language instruction, told Africa Renewal that there are huge benefits in learning foreign languages. Chinese, he says, is by far the most sought after.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “If you look at the rate at which the Chinese are coming into this country,” says Mr. Makoni, “you do not need to be a prophet to tell who is going to be the most significant employer in a few years to come. . . . All the people we train are snapped up by companies as soon as they finish their courses, and they are paid very handsomely.”</p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumzimbabweflag.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 300px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> He adds that the ability to speak another major language besides English is a great selling point in the marketplace. A Chinese-speaking interpreter can rake in a monthly salary of Z$5,000, while a bilingual secretary with the same capabilities can claim up to Z$3,000 — earnings deemed at the top range in Zimbabwe.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Laston Mukaro, a language consultant and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe’s linguistics department, says that although his job grading has not yet changed, he is now earning much more after learning Chinese.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “It makes sense to learn Chinese now other than for the reason necessitated by the government’s Look East Policy,” he says. “Chinese is one of the United Nation’s official languages and if you look at the way China is expanding into the world, you can do better if you speak their language.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Mr. Mukaro also earns a lot of money from exchange programs between China and Zimbabwe. In addition, he frequently consults for the local Confucius Institute. Other benefits include his current work on a handbook for translating between Chinese and Shona, one of Zimbabwe’s main indigenous languages. “For those who travel to and do business with China a lot, and are privileged to tap its diverse tourism, then learning Chinese is practically obligatory and has immense benefits,” he says with enthusiasm.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>More Expansion Ahead</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Professor Mashiri says there are plans to open at least five more Chinese teaching points in other parts of the country, and to construct a Confucius Institute building at the University of Zimbabwe. The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe has also promised to build a cultural centre to strengthen cultural cooperation between the two countries.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The world is now a global village, requiring people to understand each other’s culture and languages, says Levi Nyagura, the University of Zimbabwe’s vice-chancellor. “We want to see Zimbabwean students get jobs in China. We will continue to work hard to institutionalize the Chinese language, as we have done with the other major world languages.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> There are also suggestions for introducing Chinese into the national curriculum. “The net effect,” argues Professor Mashiri, “is to have the teaching and learning of Chinese cascade from university to secondary and primary schools.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/04/in-zimbabwe-learning-chinese-is-a-lucrative-investment.php">New America Media</a></p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: New America Media; Wikipedia Commons.</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zimbabwe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Zimbabwe</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/africa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">africa</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-language" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese language</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-continent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african continent</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tonderayi Mukeredzi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:45:16 +0000 tara 2647 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2327-learning-chinese-now-lucrative-investment-zimbabwe#comments Saving America’s Chinatowns https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1742-saving-americas-chinatowns <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 10/29/2012 - 14:48</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumChinatown%20%28yang%20and%20yun%20flickr%29.jpg?itok=JvwKs2T2"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumChinatown%20%28yang%20and%20yun%20flickr%29.jpg?itok=JvwKs2T2" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/10/why-american-chinatowns-must-change.php">New America Media</a> and <a href="http://www.theworld.org/2012/08/why-american-chinatowns-must-change/">PRI’s The World</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> A few months back, author Bonnie Tsui wrote a short article in <em>The Atlantic</em> magazine titled “The End of Chinatown.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I think ‘end,’ is the end of Chinatown as we know it,” said Tsui.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “So we have known it as this home for working-class immigrants, you know the rural poor. It’s always been that gateway, it’s the starting point. And it has been a necessary starting point. Now if demographic conditions continue as they are and the great economic engine – this global juggernaut that is China – now continues on, maybe these vast swaths of rural poor find other opportunities in China and they don’t have to come to the U.S.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> This is already happening. Tsui’s cites statistics charting a slow and steady decline of Chinese immigrants from a peak of six years ago.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Declining Immigration</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Tsui said, “And so the question remains: If new immigrants are no longer part of the fabric of Chinatown, then what would allow it to live on?”</p> <p>  </p> <p> This question has rattled some Chinese-American community leaders in places like San Francisco, home of America’s oldest Chinatown. I walked around the neighborhood with Gordon Chin, sort of a local celebrity and founder of the Chinatown Community Development Center.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “This Chinatown started in the 1830s with Chinese immigrants coming over to work in the fields, and later on with the discovery of gold in the 1840s, and shortly thereafter to work on the railroads,” said Chin as he gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the area.</p> <p>  </p> <p> It’s easy to lose focus in Chinatown. I know these streets reasonably well. I used to walk them daily to get to work, through the crowded markets, tacky tourist shops and brightly colored pagodas, lanterns and Oriental architecture.</p> <p>  </p> <p> And the crush of people – San Francisco’s Chinatown is the most densely populated neighborhood west of Manhattan. It’s a place of immigrants, where English is not the primary language. But as fewer Chinese migrate here, I asked Gordon Chin, What did he think was going to happen to American Chinatowns? He said with crisis, comes opportunity.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “So in terms of opportunity with the growth of China, there’s pride with that, there’s economic opportunity, there’s socio and cultural ties.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> San Francisco’s Chinatown is still very much a vibrant, bustling place. But many smaller Chinatowns, from nearby Oakland to Washington, D.C., have struggled.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Chin and his colleague Gen Fujioka, who was also walking with us, know this could also happen here. But they don’t see it anytime soon. Fujioka called Bonnie Tsui’s article, “The End of Chinatown” an “over-simplification.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Bonnie is recognizing that it is a challenge. Communities have to recreate themselves, find relevance for today, it’s not just about the past. And I think that challenge exists for every community, and I think Chinatowns are no different,” said Fujioka.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Staying Relevant</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> To stay relevant, Chinatowns must transition to places that attract second and third generation Chinese Americans, people like Frank Wong. Wong grew up in the Sunset District, an outlying neighborhood of San Francisco. The Sunset is also heavily Chinese, but Wong said newer Chinese communities in outlying districts can never replace the original downtown Chinatowns.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I would like to keep it the way it is, it’s a symbol of who I am, and my culture,” Wong said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumchinatown%20%28Tyler%20Hewitt%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 456px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Wong has a special attachment to San Francisco’s Chinatown. He helps run a family restaurant here, the R and G Lounge, where First Lady Michelle Obama stopped while in the city last summer.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But he said many of his Chinese-American friends from the suburbs don’t share his affinity for Chinatown. Wong said over the past decade, he’s seen fewer Chinese Americans come visit.</p> <p>  </p> <p> He observed, “There used to be a lot more events on the weekends, for example, festivals, or anything like that, that used to always be occurring all the time. But that just doesn’t happen anymore based on the fact that not as many people would show up. Over the years, they just totally eliminated those types of things.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> This trend bothers Wong both as a Chinese American and a local businessman. To combat this, restaurants throughout Chinatown, like New Asia, are looking for ways to broaden their customer base.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The New Asia is a cavernous, but packed, room with waiters pushing dim sum carts through crowded passageways. Speaking through a translator, Owner Hon So said he’s worked hard to keep his restaurant busy.</p> <p>  </p> <p> So said on Christmas Eve and Day they host the Kung Pao Kosher Comedy festival. As the name implies, it’s a largely Jewish audience, laughing, and more important to So, eating his food. Last year, So said, the festival brought in 600 people and that events like this are helping his business diversify and survive.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But as Chinatowns reinvent themselves and become less Chinese, at what point do they cease being genuine Chinatowns?</p> <p>  </p> <p> I boarded an elevator with Gordon Chin in Chinatown’s first public housing project, where Chinese and Chinese-Americans have been living there since the 1950s.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As we got out of the elevator, we saw several residents, none of whom were Asian. I asked Chin how he felt about the changes unfolding here.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Fine,” said Chin. “I mean Chinatowns across the country have always been very fluid, and it’s not always been 100 percent Chinese.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> I also asked Bonnie Tsui how she felt about the changes in Chinatown. Besides her article in <em>The Atlantic</em>, Tsui also wrote a book called American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods. Tsui has a personal connection to the one in Manhattan.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I think back to the fact that my grandfather worked in a fortune cookie factory down in [Manhattan’s] Chinatown when I was growing up. And the fortune cookies that were peppering my household were little reminders of his path down to Chinatown everyday,” said Tsui.</p> <p>  </p> <p> She went on, “I talk to my grandparents about how they feel about this place they lived in, this place for decades. And they say they’re happy they left, but they were happy that it was a home for them when they got here.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Chinatowns</strong><strong> Can Evolve</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> While Tsui writes fond portraits about American Chinatowns, she also describes the neighborhoods in stark language – dirty, overcrowded places, where immigrant families often cram into one-room apartments.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I want to be clear that I’m not actually of the opinion that they should be preserved as is,” said Tsui.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Tsui said Chinatowns can successfully evolve. For example, she cites Honolulu’s Chinatown, now a home to a thriving nightlife scene. Art galleries are popping up in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “These things are not “Chinese,” but they are fitting in somehow, and they’re kind of finding a way to co-exist, or more than co-exist, with the long-time Chinese residents in the neighborhood.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Of course that brings us back to Tsui’s original question: Is this the end of Chinatown as we know it? It’s an interesting debate, but it’s also worth remembering: People have been predicting the disappearance of American Chinatowns since the 1920s.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/10/why-american-chinatowns-must-change.php">New America Media</a></p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: Yan and Yung, Tyler Hewitt (Flickr, Creative Commons).</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/san-francisco-chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">san francisco chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chinese americans</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jason Margolis</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yang and Yun</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:48:36 +0000 tara 1818 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1742-saving-americas-chinatowns#comments Shark Fin Controversy Escalates into Lawsuit https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1445-shark-fin-controversy-escalates-lawsuit <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 08/05/2012 - 15:44</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumsharkfin.jpg?itok=rHEz2AhY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumsharkfin.jpg?itok=rHEz2AhY" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/lawsuit-claims-shark-fin-ban-discriminatory-against-asians.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> The San Francisco-based Chinatown Neighborhood Association (CNA) announced last week that it intends to file a lawsuit to overturn California Assembly Bill 376, a new law banning the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The bill, proposed by Democratic Assembly members Jared Huffman and Paul Fong, was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last October. Although it went into effect Jan. 1 of this year, the law allows restaurants and individuals to use or sell shark fins they obtained legally until July 1, 2013.</p> <p>  </p> <p> CNA President Pius Lee told the Chinese-language newspaper <em>Epoch Times</em>  the association believes the shark fin ban is unconstitutional. The publication also reported that Lee criticized the legislation for discriminating against a longstanding Chinese tradition.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Supporters of the ban, many of them Chinese Americans, said increasing demand for the expensive cuisine is responsible for decimating the shark population.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Proponents of the bill also contend that high demand for the culinary delicacy causes violations of the illegal fishing practice of cutting off the fins of living sharks and tossing back into the sea still alive. Some supporters of the ban believe the practice is so violent and cruel, it damages the image of Chinese people and their culture.</p> <p>  </p> <p> However, Lee said AB 376 violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits discrimination against any ethnic group by targeting and banning a cultural practice unique to their culture.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Chinese have traditionally eaten shark-fin soup to celebrate weddings, birthdays of elders and festivals, such as the Chinese New Year,” Lee said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Charging that the law is contradictory, Lee asserted, that it “allows consumers to eat shark meat, but not shark fin, which is leading to racial tensions. How can you save the shark if you ban eating only the fins, but not the shark meat," Lee asked?</p> <p>  </p> <p> The shark-fin ban, Lee claimed, should also be invalidated under the constitution’s Commerce Clause because it interferes with the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Lee added that the ban violates the constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which established that federal law preempts state legislation in such cases.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Xiao-Bin Zhou, president of Asian American for Political Advancement, agreed with Lee and told the <em>World Journal</em>, "The ban allows other racial-background customers to eat 95 percent of a shark, but it doesn't allow Chinese Americans to eat shark fin, which is only 5 percent of a shark. The ban does not provide the equal right for all racial groups.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Carl Chan, a board member of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, echoed Lee’s viewpoint. He told the Chinese-language KTSF-TV News, “This bill targets Chinese, saying that we are the people who are endangering the [shark] species, which is not true.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> But Assembly Member Fong told the <em>Chinese Daily</em>, "The bill does not discriminate against Chinese Americans. The purpose of the bill is to stop the killing of sharks for [their] fins and to save the world's dwindling shark population."</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/shark-fin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shark fin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/food" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Food</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/shark-fin-soup" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shark fin soup</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lawsuit" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">lawsuit</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/shark-fin-lawsuit" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shark fin lawsuit</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/governor-jerry-brown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Governor Jerry Brown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/california" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">California</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinatown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinatown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-american-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese American</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/discrimination" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">discrimination</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Summer Chiang</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:44:05 +0000 tara 1345 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1445-shark-fin-controversy-escalates-lawsuit#comments “Chinglish” Finds Takers Beyond China https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/chinglish-finds-takers-beyond-china <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 13:56</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumchinglish_0.jpg?itok=8MAxykCB"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumchinglish_0.jpg?itok=8MAxykCB" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/news/">New America Media</a> and <a href="http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/">China Daily</a>: BEIJING - Next time a friend asks about your shopping experience, just reply "people mountain people sea". It is a literal translation of the Chinese expression “renshan renhai,” which is commonly used to describe a host of people jostling with each other.</p> <p>  </p> <p> An increasing number of new English words and phrases are being coined in China.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "I speak ‘Chinglish,’ and my British assistants have adapted to Chinglish," Hu Ruyi, a senior Chinese engineer who works in Britain, told China Daily.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Now, everyone in his lab ends most of their talks with the word "geilivable" - a transliteration of a popular net word, which combines Chinese words gei li (give strength) with an English suffix to create a word meaning "empower", he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "I always grab language from my Asian friends, and I think I do adapt a lot of mystery language, that's what I call it, which my parents do not really understand," Michael Lee, an IT support worker who lives in Seattle, told China Daily.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Our foreign colleagues in the Beijing office always try to learn Chinglish from us as a way to make friends," said 28-year-old Duan Chen, who works for a consultancy company. "That's the best way to team-build."</p> <p>  </p> <p> In fact, English has already absorbed many Chinese phrases, like "long time no see" (hao jiu bu jian), "no can do" (bu neng zuo) and "no go" (bu xing).</p> <p>  </p> <p> The Global Language Monitor, a San Diego-based consultancy that analyzes trends in language use worldwide, says Chinglish has contributed 5 to 20 percent of the words added to global English since 1994, more than any other single source.</p> <p>  </p> <p> TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language, which has a keen sense of changing linguistic trends, says it is also keeping an eye on Chinglish.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "We have to reflect global perspectives in higher education. The test will reflect it," Walt MacDonald, executive vice-president at Educational Testing Service (ETS), told China Daily in Beijing.</p> <p>  </p> <p> ETS introduced TOEFL to China 30 years ago and MacDonald said the number of test takers in China has increased constantly every year since then.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Over the last 30 years, almost 3 million Chinese students took the TOEFL," he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In 2011, ETS launched the TOEFL Junior Test in China, which measures the English-language proficiency of students aged 11 to 14. With China's economic growth, more Chinese children are studying overseas at a younger age.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "The size of the Chinese English learner population is comparable to the total size of the US population," said Shen Yang, vice-director of the Education Ministry's department of international cooperation and exchange.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "We are proud of that, and now we are making the point that the international community should learn more about Chinese in return," he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> He pointed out along with the national development at all levels, educational international cooperation has changed.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Thirty years ago, we were only sending Chinese students to other countries to meet the increasing need for English and other foreign languages," he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "But today it has become a two-way flow," he said.</p> <p> --<a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2011/12/chinglish-finds-takers-beyond-china.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinglish" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinglish</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/english" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">English</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/language" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">language</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mandarin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mandarin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cantonese" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cantonese</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Luo Wangshu</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:56:46 +0000 tara 369 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/chinglish-finds-takers-beyond-china#comments