Articles and postings are about family matters, issues regarding Boston's Chinatown, and the Asian American community. Art, literature, and politics will also be included in the discussions. Both Chinese and English will be used.家事、同胞事、社區事，事事關心。藝人、文學人、政治人，人人著意。中英並用。
Dalai Lama 'very happy' with Obama meeting President met with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader despite China's warning Reuters updated 1:01 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 18, 2010
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama for closely-watched White House talks Thursday, risking fallout in China over the get-together and Obama's statement supporting preservation of Tibet's identity and human rights.
"The president commended the Dalai Lama's 'Middle Way' approach, his commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said after the more than hourlong private meeting.
Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway, the Dalai Lama declared himself "very happy" with the session. The exiled Tibetan leader said he spoke to Obama about the promotion of human value, religious harmony, a greater leadership role for women around the world and the concerns of the Tibetan people. He said Obama was "very much supportive."
Obama's largely symbolic meeting with the Dalai Lama was kept low-key by comparison to other visiting leaders, out of deference to China. With Beijing considering the Buddhist monk a separatist, Obama doesn't want to overly anger China at a time when its cooperation is needed on nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, climate change and other priorities.
So Obama sat down with his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the Map Room rather than the much-more-photographed Oval Office where presidents usually visit with international leaders. Their talks were held entirely out of view of cameras and the public. Instead, the White House only released just a single White House photo.
Even the description the White House press office gave reporters of the talks was done on paper.
All these gestures — small to many but important in the supersensitive world of diplomacy — were meant to tamp down China's displeasure that Obama was holding the meeting in the first place.
"The optics of this thing are incredibly important to the Chinese," said Michael Green, former President George W. Bush's senior Asia adviser. "The Chinese government is preoccupied with protocol and how things look."
It may not seem inflammatory to Americans accustomed to presidential meet-and-greets of many shapes and sizes. But a Dalai Lama-Obama appearance held in public would enrage China, which believes that official foreign contact with the monk infringes on Beijing's sovereignty over Tibet. Although the Dalai Lama is revered in much of the world, Beijing accuses him of seeking to overthrow Chinese rule and restore a feudal theocracy in the expansive mountainous region. The Dalai Lama and analysts say that is untrue.
Still, China's feelings matter because relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained for years, most recently because of the Dalai Lama's visit and the Obama administration's approval of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that China claims as its own.
At the same time, Obama has to balance China's views against criticism from U.S. lawmakers and activists that he buckled to China too much already on the topic, by not meeting with the Dalai Lama when he came to Washington in October.
The Dalai Lama has met with U.S. presidents for the past two decades, mostly in private encounters.
The Dalai Lama's envoy, Lodi Gyari, said even a private meeting with Obama is a boost for Tibetans feeling marginalized by China. Green said just the "fact that they spend time together in an intimate setting means everything for the Tibetan cause."
Charles Freeman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said that while he does not believe Thursday's meeting will cause lasting damage to U.S.-China relations, short-term repercussions could include a postponement of Chinese President Hu Jintao's expected visit to Washington in April.
Despite China's angry words, recent U.S.-China tension may be easing. On Wednesday, five American warships were allowed to dock for a port call in Hong Kong, a possible indication that Beijing does not want relations with Washington to worsen.
Copyright 2010 Reuters. Click for restrictions. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35456043/ns/politics-white_house/
Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the people of Asia, and all those around the world who are celebrating the Lunar New Year.
As people of all cultures and faiths welcome the Year of the Tiger, let us all give thanks for family, the wisdom of our ancestors, and the company of our friends and neighbors.
Here in the United States, the Lunar New Year will be marked by festivals in Houston and lion dances in Los Angeles; parades in Chicago and celebrations large and small in communities across our nation. Americans of Asian descent will continue the rich traditions of the past and begin new ones with their own families. Together, they serve as a reminder of the richness and diversity that make our country great.
So to all those celebrating the Lunar New Year, may you be blessed with peace, prosperity and good health – now and in the year ahead.
TOO BEAUTIFUL TO LAST (Richard Rodney Bennett / Paul Francis Webster)
Engelbert Humperdinck
Also recorded by: Russ Peterson; Kerri Sherwood.
The days of autumn splendor Those moments, warm and tender Was it too beautiful to last The love we share together The dreams we dare together Was it too beautiful to last
Walking hand in hand The dawn discloses We were dreaming of a land Where love preposes But castles made of sand Like winter roses are fated to die My darlin', like you and I My darlin'
Where are those sweet Septembers The joy my heart remembers Lost in the shadows of the past The rainbow watched above you The sacred words "I love you" Why did that dream go by so fast Was it too beautiful Was it too beautiful to last
早前報載2010年奧斯卡獲提名的名單，較少報道獲提名「最佳記錄短片」的，有一部是關於 08年四川地震的影片，英文片名是：《 China'sUnnatural Disaster: The Tears of SichuanProvince》（中國非自然的災難：四川的眼淚），製片人是在紐約市立大學任教的華裔教授夏明和鄺治中，導演是美國著名記錄片導演 JonAlpert和他的助理 Matthew O'Neill。影片由 HBO投資，製片人給影片起了一個中文名字：《劫後天府淚縱橫》。在YouTube上，可以看到影片的片段。它最特別的地方，是全片沒有旁白，話音全由當地災民的直接談話組成。夏明等四人在川震第十天前往災區，親見家長們控訴校舍的豆腐渣工程，為死難的子女討正義。他們原想拍攝天災，結果拍出了「非自然的災難」，即人禍。這部獨特的電影，極可能在奧斯卡獲獎。
China sentences quake activist Tan Zuoren
Tan Zuoren, who had investigated school collapses that killed thousands of children in China’s massive 2008 earthquake, was sentenced to five years.
By Peter Ford Staff Writer
posted February 9, 2010 at 9:06 am EST
Beijing —
A Chinese activist who publicly blamed shoddy buildings for the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in a 2008 earthquake was sentenced to five years in jail Tuesday for “incitement to subversion.”
The sentence against Tan Zuoren “is a warning to others,” says Roseann Rife, deputy program director for Amnesty International in Hong Kong. “He was raising issues that directly impact people’s lives, the sort that the authorities fear are going to generate too much support and protest.
“The message,” Ms. Rife adds, “is that civil society can participate, if at all, only under the government’s guidance and with its permission.”
Handing down the sentence, the judge said he was punishing Tan Zuoren for a document he had written about the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and published abroad in 2007.
Mr. Tan’s lawyers and supporters, however, pointed out that he was charged only in July 2009, after he had angered local Sichuan Province authorities by drawing attention to poorly built schools and by leading environmental opposition to a planned petrochemical plant.
“The real reasons are the plant and the ‘tofu buildings’ ” that collapsed during the devastating May 12 earthquake, lawyer Xia Lin said. His client would appeal the sentence, he added.
“Tan’s earthquake work was not mentioned in the verdict because of concern he would have too much public support on this issue,” says Rife.
Had organized online campaign
Tan had organized an online campaign to draw up a list of all the schoolchildren who died in the Sichuan earthquake, which in several towns destroyed public buildings such as schools while leaving neighboring structures undamaged. That fed suspicions of faulty, possibly corrupt, public works programs.
Ai Weiwei, the internationally known artist who spearheaded a similar movement to compile a victims’ list, was beaten and detained when he sought to attend Tan’s trial in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, last August.
“China is going back to a very bad position where freedom of expression is absolutely forbidden and anyone who does not agree with a single policy is sentenced,” Mr. Ai laments.
Tan’s sentence, which his lawyers said was the heaviest the court could have imposed, came one day after another earthquake activist saw his appeal rejected.
The same court in Chengdu turned down Huang Qi’s appeal against a three-year sentence imposed last November for “possession of state secrets.”
Mr. Huang, a noted human rights activist in Chengdu, was detained in June 2008 after he advised several families considering bringing lawsuits against local officials whom they blamed for the poor building standards that they said had led to their children’s deaths.
No such suits have ever been brought. Local officials in Sichuan have offered monetary compensation to some complaining parents and put heavy pressure on others to intimidate them into abandoning legal avenues, victims’ parents have said.
