C–100 OPINION SURVEY
CHINESE AMERICANS GIVE BACK CHINA JOINS WTO
From the U.S. Senate to the Boise City Club,
C–100’s survey has brought new awareness
of public attitudes toward Asian Americans
p3
C–100 members are blazing a trail of
philantrophy with their donations to
educational and cultural institutions
p9
The significance of China’s WTO
membership was assessed by C–100 at
its Washington DC conference
p12
“Seeking Common Ground While Respecting Differences”
Fall 2001
Committee of 100
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY AGAINST ETHNIC
PROFILING AND HATE CRIMES IN WAKE OF TERRORISM
BIGOTRY
FINDS MANY INNOCENT TARGETS
Recalling the internment of
120,000 Japanese Americans in World
War II and more recently the Wen Ho
Lee case, Asian Americans are all too
aware of how easily vigilance against
the nation’s enemies can lead to widespread suspicion by fellow Americans
and violation of civil rights. This
spring, Chinese Americans were
shocked to learn from the Committee
of 100’s survey of American attitudes
toward Asian Americans that they are
viewed by nearly half of Americans as
more loyal to China than the U.S. or
even as potential spies.
Thus, perhaps more than other
Americans, Asian Americans identified
with the fears of Americans of Middle
Eastern or South and Central Asian
descent following the terrorist attacks
on September 11.
In quick succession, C–100 and
many other Asian American groups
have condemned the outburst of discrimination and violence against innocent Arab and Muslim Americans.
John B. Tsu, Chairman-designate
of the President’s Advisory Commission
on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders, said: “My colleagues and I
share the grief of our fellow Americans
over the terrorist acts that have
gripped our country. As the President
(continued on page 6)
COMMITTEE OF 100 CONDEMNS TERRORISM IN
NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON
The following statement was issued to the press on September 13:
The Committee of 100 condemns the brutal terrorism in New York and Washington on
September 11. Those responsible for these heinous and barbaric acts should be promptly
brought to justice with whatever means are necessary. Along with our fellow Americans, we
pledge our support to our Government’s efforts to identify and punish these individuals. We
applaud the efforts of the rescue workers and pray for the families of the victims.
However, as our nation expresses its righteous anger, we must honor the precious
American values for which thousands of our fellow citizens have just given their lives.The evil
men who committed these acts feed on soulless hatred. They cannot conceive of a decent,
caring society like America in which each person, regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin,may follow his or her religious beliefs without fear of violence, persecution or bigotry.
There are [hundreds of thousands] of our fellow citizens, innocent and law-abiding,who have
emigrated from the Middle East or who follow the Islamic faith.It is wrong and immoral to
blame these people, based merely upon their skin color or surname, for the crimes of others.
There is simply no justification,now or at any other time, for racial or ethnic slurs, no reason
to attack mosques, no right to hurt the innocent.If such things occur, we only fall to the level
of the perpetrators of these crimes that we condemn today and give them a sick victory.
The Committee calls upon the nation to create the best possible living memorial to all of
Tuesday’s victims.That is to honor our great traditions of respect for law and order; to protect
the weak and innocent;to be tolerant of the diverse cultures that,together, make America so
strong and rich;to live our lives together, in peace, without fear and without hatred.
Fall 2001 page 2
TWO CHINESE AMERICAN HEROES
Committee of 100
677 Fifth Avenue, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10022
(212 )371-6565
[email protected]
www.committee100.org
Our mission
To promote the full participation of
Chinese Americans in all fields of
American life
To encourage constructive relations
between the peoples of the United States
and Greater China
Board of Directors
Governors
Yo-Yo Ma
I.M. Pei
Oscar L. Tang
Chang-Lin Tien
Shirley Young
Officers
Henry S. Tang, Chairman
Robert Lee, Co-Chair
John L. Fugh, Vice Chair
Charlie Sie, Vice Chair
Alice Young, Vice Chair
Dennis Wu, Treasurer
Nelson Dong, General Counsel & Secretary
Directors
Gareth C.C. Chang
John S. Chen
Pehong Chen
Anna C. Chennault
Carolyn Sue Chin
David Chu
Matthew K. Fong
Robert W. Gee
Ming Chen Hsu
Richard King
George P. Koo
David K. Lam
T.Y. Lin
Peter Liu
Leslie T. Schilling
C.B. Sung
Jackson Tai
Charles Y.C. Tse
Charles P. Wang
Kung-Lee Wang
Walter W. Wang
Janet Yang
Executive Counsellor
John Young
Committee Bridges is published
seasonally. Copyright 2001.
Editor
Jane Leung Larson
Design
Lisa Manting Fu
FROM SEPTEMBER 11
BETTY ONG AND ZACK ZENG
After 13 years of flying, Betty Ong, 45, still loved her job as a flight attendant,
in spite of her family’s misgivings about its safety. After terrorists viciously took over
American Airlines Flight 11, Ong used the Airphone to call supervisors at Logan
Airport in Boston and, gasping with fear, described how hijackers had stabbed two
flight attendants, slit the throat of a passenger, burst into the cockpit, and were now
flying the plane to New York City. The pilot was alerted in time to turn on the
microphone in the cockpit, allowing flight controllers to hear alleged ringleader
Mohammed Atta or one of his conspirators say, “We have more planes, we have
other planes.” Ong became the first person to tell the world to what lay ahead.
Even after the pilots were killed, Ong kept reporting to her Fort Worth supervisors, telling them where the hijackers had sat and how she and other passengers
had been hit with pepper spray. Finally, she said, “We’re starting to descend. We’re
starting to descend.”
On September 21, Betty Ong’s life and courage were commemorated by community members and city leaders at a memorial held in the Chinatown of her
native San Francisco.
When Zack (Zhe) Zeng, an officer of the
Bank of New York and also a certified Emergency
Medical Technician (EMT), walked out of the
subway at 9 AM, he stepped into the chaos after
Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center’s North
Tower and knew he had to help. Colleagues
report that Zeng stopped by the bank only long
enough to call his mother to report that he was
fine and to pick up medical supplies from his
desk, before rushing back to ground zero. There,
Fox TV caught the last images of Zeng, reaching
over to help a bleeding victim on a stretcher.
On September 30, Zeng’s 29th birthday, his
family had to accept that he would never return.
Zeng’s mother said that not only did she not
Reprinted with permission of World Journal blame her son for risking his life for others, she
staunchly approved of his decision. She told a reporter, “Since we immigrated to
America, we think of this land as our country. [As a school teacher in China] I
always taught young people to serve society and the people. I may have lost Zhe,
but I’m very proud of what he did. I hope mainstream America will understand
that there are Chinese Americans who are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to
help others.”
Zeng’s story was first told on September 21 by Lucas Lin, a Manhattan-based
reporter for the World Journal, the most important Chinese language newspaper in
the U.S. Lin’s story was summarized in English by Charlie Sie who circulated it by email to many Committee of 100 members. S.B. Woo, who heads the 80-20 Initiative,
a political action committee, found it a compelling example of Chinese American
heroism and sent it on to a number of mainstream media contacts.
Zeng’s career was on the rise, according to his manager, Peggy Farrell. Just
three years after coming to work at the Bank, Zeng had been appointed Assistant
Treasurer, developing projects for the American Depositary Receipts Division.
Farrell said Zeng was “extremely proud of his heritage,” talking to his co-workers about Chinese culture and history, taking them on excursions to Chinatown
and bringing Chinese New Year treats to share. Zeng arrived in the U.S. from
Guangzhou at age 15 and became an American citizen while a student at the
University of Rochester.
Fall 2001 page 3
C-100 O P I N I O N S U R V E Y W I D E L Y C I T E D A N D D I S T R I B U T E D
Quoting evidence of negative
stereotyping of Chinese Americans
and Asian Americans from the
Committee’s recent Yankelovich poll
and Marttila focus groups, Senator
Dianne Feinstein gave a floor speech
to the U.S. Senate on June 21 about
“The Growing Web of Suspicion of
Asian Americans.” She said, “In recent
years, we have seen those on the far
right and the far left of the political
spectrum raise allegations without
proof, distort facts, and make it impossible to refute insinuations. Thus a web
of suspicion is woven about the loyalties of Asian Americans to the United
States.” In her speech, Feinstein
recounted a number of recent incidents of hate crimes, attacks on loyalty,
and ethnic profiling against Asian
Americans, some involving Chinese
Americans politicians, including
Congressman David Wu and Labor
Secretary Elaine Chao.
Wide distribution to the media of
the Committee’s historic survey of
American attitudes towards Chinese
Americans and Asian Americans has
resulted in a profusion of news stories
and op-ed pieces with headlines like
“‘Yellow Peril’ Fears Still Run Deep”
and “When the Villains Look Like
You” (see C–100 Poll Press Clips
throughout this issue).
Ten thousand survey reports have
been sent to members of Congress,
heads of Asian American organizations, university Asian studies and
Asian American studies departments,
even to college and university presidents. Attendees at the national meetings of such organizations as the
Organization of Chinese Americans
and aMagazine’s popular award dinner
have also received a copy. New York
Governor George Pataki and large corporations with many Asian American
employees have requested multiple
copies of the report. Hundreds more
have been gone to Asian American
activists like Howard University law
professor Frank Wu. Wu sent the
report on to a long list of black civil
rights leaders.
In addition, C–100 has held
forums to discuss the survey with influential groups like the Asian American
Journalists Association (AAJA).
Speaking to AAJA on August 4, Henry
Tang described the survey as “a tool,
not a weapon,” to inspire Asian
American journalists to bring the negative numbers down. Tang criticized
the media’s “rush to judgment” when
covering such stories as the Wen Ho
Lee case, comparing the hasty (and
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION GIVES NEW
VISIBILITY TO ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE
FRANK ODO, NOTED ASIAN AMERICAN
STUDIES SPECIALIST, IS D IRECTOR
More than one-half million tourists and D.C. residents learned about the struggles and stories of Chinese
immigrants to the U.S. in three visiting exhibitions this
summer at the Smithsonian Art and Industries Building:
On Gold Mountain; Fly to Freedom; The Art of the Golden
Venture Refugees; and Gateway to Gold Mountain: The Angel
Island Immigration Experience.
This wealth of Chinese American images and artifacts was brought together by Franklin Odo, director of
the new Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.
Odo works closely with Asian American museums and
incorrect) conclusions that were drawn
about Lee to the more careful and
cautious coverage of the spy case of
FBI agent Robert Hanssen. But, Tang
noted, editors have become more sensitive to the effects of bias on coverage
of such stories and are seeking out
reporters with bi-cultural viewpoints.
Other members, such as
Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang, see the
report’s release as an opportunity for
the Committee to reach out to the
general public on the issues of ethnic
profiling and stereotyping, while personally representing Asian Americans
at the highest level of achievement.
Yang was invited to the Boise City Club
to speak on Asian economic development this May and used the occasion
to describe the survey. Her all-white
audience was surprised at the amount
of negative public sentiment shown
toward Asian Americans, but saw in
Yang an example of a loyal, community-minded Chinese American whose
very presence was an answer to the
negative stereotypes.
For one or more copies of the survey report, please call Winnie Chan at
the C-100 office, (212) 371-6565.
experts across the nation to
bring the best exhibitions
and public programs to the
capital. As the prime
national repository for the
display of our vast cultural
resources, the Smithsonian
Institution is seeking to “better
reflect Asian Pacific American experiences in Smithsonian exhibitions,
programs, and research.”
Franklin Odo
Odo is a pioneer in Asian
American studies, which he began teaching at the university level in 1968. In 1997, he left academia to head
the Smithsonian’s Asian Pacific American program,
where he feels the exhibitions on display will help counter the negative stereotypes of Asian Americans uncovered in C–100’s opinion survey. Odo can be reached in
Washington, D.C. at (202) 786-2963.
Fall 2001 page 4
B I L L M O Y E R S ’ C H I N E S E A M E R I C A N SE R I E S NO W I N P R O D U C T I O N
Bill Moyers has begun production
of “Becoming American: The Chinese
Experience” which will air in
November 2002. The series consists of
three 90-minute films, to be shown on
consecutive nights on PBS, followed by
a half hour of local programming
about Chinese Americans.
The series opens by describing
how American attitudes toward
Chinese changed in the first one hundred years of the Republic from the
admiration and curiousity of the
founding fathers to the hostility and
scorn of the Exclusion Era. The second program begins with the first
Exclusion Act of 1882 and ends with
the 1950s McCarthy era. It will show
how Chinese Americans fought in
court against discriminatory policies
long before the civil rights movement
of the 1960s, and found other ways to
protest Exclusion, like supporting a
Chinese boycott of American goods in
1905. “What does it take to become an
American?” is the question asked by
the third film, looking at contemporary Chinese American identity.
Moyers sees this film as belonging to
the Chinese Americans who are portrayed, such as the young people
whom he filmed this summer on a visit
to their ancestal villages in the Pearl
River Delta.
Moyers, perhaps the foremost documentary filmmaker in the U.S., has
dreamed of doing this project for
twenty years. The missing element was
funding. Key to meeting his $5 million
goal was finding Chinese American
support, which came by way of the
Committee of 100’s Henry Tang who
introduced Moyers to potential
donors. Contributors to the project are
three foundations (Luce, Starr and
MacArthur); three corporations
(Moyers’ longtime corporate underwriter, Mutual of America Life
Insurance Co., along with Intel and
Sybase, John S. Chen’s company); and
a few generous individuals: Shirley and
Walter Wang, Eugene Sit, Anthony and
Lulu Wang, Oscar Tang, David Chu,
Albert Yu, and Anla and Mark
Documentary filmmaker Bill Moyers with his producer Mi Ling Tsui (l) and C-100 Chair Henry Tang (r).
Kingdon.
With funds in hand, Moyers has
recruited a highly experienced production team, many of whom are
Asian Americans and all with extensive
film and television credits. The series
producer is Thomas Lennon, whose
PBS series, The Irish in America, was one
of public television’s most widely
watched documentaries. Producer of
the first show is Joseph Angier, a veteran Emmy and Peabody award-winning
documentary producer with more
than twenty years’ experience in network and cable television. Mi Ling Tsui
is producer of the second film and
worked closely with Moyers to develop
the project. Her production credits
include Peter Jennings’ Century:
America’s Time, Listening to America with
Bill Moyers, Pacific Centur y (a ten-part
PBS series on Asia), and a documentary, China Now. Steve Cheng, who
came to the project from NBC News, is
producer for the third film. His experience in broadcast journalism began at
ABC News, followed by production
responsibilities for This Week with David
Brinkley and Good Morning America.
Producers are working with
archivists and researchers to find the
best images and stories to depict the
history and current life of Chinese in
America. Many different kinds of raw
materials go into a documentary–old
photos, diaries, news stories, letters,
archival film–as well as interviews with
interpreters like historians and writers
and first-person accounts of events by
those who have lived them. Another
team has begun to produce the accompanying educational materials for the
series.
C-100
PRESS CLIPS
Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2001
“‘Yellow Peril’ Fears Still Run Deep’”
This survey points out that many Americans are
still suspicious of people who “don’t look like us,”
which has never been the way to take the true
measure of someone’s qualifications as a neighbor,
an in-law or a president.Many still gauge
American patriotism based on country of origin,
though most of us left home countries to come to
America in search of the same things:freedom, a
better life for our families and a haven from
unjust discrimination.Most disheartening,many of
us are still operating off of fears and prejudices
for which we don’t know or remember the origins,
that have no bearing on the present,and certainly
don’t bode well for the future.”
-Lisa See, author of On Gold Mountain: The 100Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
San Francisco Chronicle,May 27,2001
“When the Villians Look Like You”
[Op-Ed about “Pearl Harbor”]
This survey helps to explain why, in the midst of
the latest contretemps between the United States
and China,cartoonists and comedians invoked
racist caricatures of Asians for laughs.It also
helps explain why not a single national politician
called the press to voice concern over the hostility expressed against Asians in editorials.
-Michael J. Yaki was the first Japanese American
member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Fall 2001 page 5
C-100 IN ACTION
C-100 ADVOCACY FOR ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE NATIONAL
LABS
By Nelson Dong and Jane Larson
For the past two years,
predating the Wen Ho
Lee case, C–100 has
worked to protect civil
rights and employment
opportunities for Asian
Americans employed at
the national laboratories.
Literally hundreds of con versations, meetings, and
phone calls have taken
place, most of them
involving Charlie Sie or
Nelson Dong to address
Nelson Dong was the lead-off speaker for a issues of discrimination
workshop on ethnic diversity for the
and “racial profiling,”
national laboratories this August.
which began to concern
lab administrators and Cabinet officials alike after the Wen
Ho Lee indictment in December 1999.
This July in Seattle, C–100 members Henry Tang, K.L.
Wang, Charlie Sie, Gary Locke, David Tang and Nelson
Dong discussed progress on these issues at a meeting with
administrators and Chinese American employees from the
national labs.
On August 24, General John Gordon, the new head of
the National Nuclear Security Administration, convened a
tri-lab meeting in Albuquerque with administrators and
Asian American representatives from Sandia, Los Alamos
and Lawrence Livermore laboratories, to examine ethnic
diversity in the recruitment and retention of staff. Opening
the conference was Dong, who represented C–100. His
topic was “American Demographics and History: Lessons
for National Laboratories.”
Dong presented statistics on the scientific and engineering work force in America, showing how students from
China and India now earn a high percentage of science
and engineering graduate and post-doctoral degrees in the
U.S. Looking back to history, he compared the relatively
open embrace of European immigrant scientists and engineers, even many former Nazis, in America’s nuclear and
missile program, to the hostility shown toward Chinese
immigrant scientists and engineers such as Qian Xuesen.
Dong noted that Asian Americans have contributed much
to the defense of the United States, including 32 winners of
the Congressional Medal of Honor. He closed by suggesting what this information might mean for the national laboratories as employers of Asian Americans. A tape of this
talk is available through the C–100 office.
AWARD PRESENTED TO C-100 AT 2001 BRIDGE BUILDER GALA
In recognition of C–100’s advocacy work in the Wen
Ho Lee case, author Helen Zia presented Committee chair
Henry Tang with a special award at the annual “Bridge
Builder” Asian American Leadership Award banquet in
New York on June 15. The gala is hosted by aMagazine and
the AURA Fund (Asians United to Raise Awareness) to
honor Asian Americans who combine an extraordinary
career with contributions to the Asian American community. Among this year’s awardees was C-100 member John Sie
who is chair and CEO of Starz Encore Group LLC, which
includes the multi-lingual cable network, the International
Channel, focusing on first-generation Americans.
C-100 SUPPORTS BEIJING’S OLYMPIC BID
On July 11, before the meeting of the International
Olympic Committee, the Committee of 100 issued a statement to support Beijing’s 2008 Olympic bid and welcomed
the Bush administration’s decision not to oppose it. The
statement asserted: “Hosting the Olympics will engage not
only China’s athletes but most of China’s 1.3 billion population with the ideals, values and practices of the rest of the
world. For Americans, it will provide an opportunity to gain
a better understanding of China and particularly of its
young people.”
C-100 MEETINGS WITH POLITICAL LEADERS FROM CHINA
AND HONG KONG
John Fugh, Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi, Pauline and Bob Gee.
Beijing’s selection as host of the 2008 Olympics on July
13 coincided with a C–100 dinner party at the University
Club in Washington, D.C. that evening to welcome new
Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi and Minister He Yafei,
Deputy Head of Mission, and their wives. Henry Tang
poured the champagne to toast China’s success in winning
the Olympic bid, joined by members K.L. Wang, John Young,
(continued on page 6)
Fall 2001 page 6
C-100 MEETINGS
(continued from page 5)
John Fugh, Anna Chennault, Julia
Chang Bloch, Bob Gee, Michael Lin,
and Wang Chi and their spouses.
C–100 subsequently received an invitation for a delegation to visit China
this fall; if accepted, the trip would
include Taiwan as well.
Leaders of Hong Kong’s second
largest party, the “pro-Beijing”
Democratic Alliance for the
Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), met
with John Young and Henry Tang at
the Committee of 100 on July 17. The
delegation, led by DAB Chairman
Tsang Yok Sing and including four
members of Hong Kong’s Legislative
Council, sought to introduce DAB’s
positions to the Committee as well as
learn about C–100 concerns for Hong
Kong’s future. The five-member delegation was composed of a trade unionist, medical doctor, entrepreneur, and
two full-time politicians, all of whom
have been actively involved in such
issues as environmental affairs and
fighting crime. The delegation visited
New York City and Washington, D.C.,
and gave Americans a chance to learn
about how “One Country, Two
Systems” is perceived by its advocates
at the grass roots level.
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang
Jiaxuan visited Washington, D.C. in
order to proceed with preparations for
October’s APEC and summit meetings
in China, arriving not long after the
September 11 terrorist attacks. On
September 20, he met in Washington,
DC with a group of Chinese
Americans, including John Fugh, Wang
Chi and Henry Tang. Julia Chang
Bloch joined these C–100 members for
a dinner that evening sponsored by
the U.S.–China Business Council and
National Committee on U.S.–China
Relations at the Willard Hotel. Foreign
Minister Tang told the audience that
immediately after the terrorist attacks
on September 11, President Jiang
Zemin sent a message of sympathy and
condolences to President Bush, and
they spoke on the phone the next day.
Tang said that the Chinese people
stand with the American people and
the entire international community in
the fight against terrorism. He reiterated that China wants very much to
deepen understanding and mutual
trust with the U.S.
C-100
PRESS CLIPS
Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 2001
“Chinese Americans: They Worry
about Stereotypes”
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS URGE SOLIDARITY
(continued from page 1)
has said, this is a test of our great
nation. We call on all Americans to
show solidarity, not against a particular religious or ethnic group, but
against terror, itself, and against the
specific organizations and individuals
who bear responsibility for these
tragedies.”
Law professor Frank Wu wrote for
Knight-Ridder News Service on
September 13: “Asian Americans have
a special obligation to stand up and
speak out on this issue. The internment was a defining moment for
Asian Americans, regardless of
whether they were Japanese American.
Asian Americans know what it is like
to face the perpetual foreigner syndrome. We cannot take satisfaction
that this time we are not the ones
under unfair scrutiny, or that the fear
of China has suddenly subsided.”
S.B. Woo who heads the 80-20
Initiative noted that “the Korematsu
decision upholding the constitutionality of interning Japanese Americans in
World War II has never been reversed
and provides authority for the internment of Arab Americans and more
particularly non-resident aliens.
Needless to say, the same decision
could be used to justify the internment of Chinese Americans, should,
God forbid, a war between the U.S.
and China break out.” He suggested
that now might be a good time to
reverse “this historic black mark
against our beloved U.S.A.”
Several of the questions in the poll center on a
perception that Chinese-Americans are aloof or
clannish or not very involved in their communities.
At the same time, many Chinese-Americans express
distress at the “permanent alien”syndrome and
decline to get involved in politics or other public
affairs.They see no benefit.Could it be that these
two resentments reinforce each other? It may be
that groups like the Committee of 100 are themselves the beginning of the antidote.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 31, 2001
“A Presidential Bid Might Raise Views
on Asian-Americans”
Any American kid can grow up to be president,or
so the story goes. But children of Asian ancestry
better not hold their breath.
One out of four Americans would feel “uncomfortable” voting for an Asian-American for president,
says a recent poll.
This national poll was done for a Chinese American
group, the Committee of 100,in the wake of the
Justice Department’s jihad against an American citizen and nuclear scientist, Wen Ho Lee. Indeed,
frenzied reporting and radio chatter on a
trifecta–Lee plus U.S.-Chinese espionage plus
fund-raising excesses–has probably made bias
against Asian Americans worse.
Let’s circle back to the one in four Americans who
don’t want an Asian-American in the White house, in
their family or in their neighborhood. There’s one
person in American politics who could put a dramatic dent in that bigotry:Democratic Gov. Gary
Locke of Washington.He’s an Asian-American who
has won good marks for running a state twice as
big as Bill Clinton’s old one.
By daring to run for president,Gary Locke could
chip away at prejudice, inspire 10 million AsianAmericans, and stretch America toward its ideals.
-Douglas Pike
Fall 2001 page 7
and lyrics are
unchanged (“I Enjoy
Being a Girl,” “Love,
Look Away”) but the
story and characters
have been updated
from the 1958
Broadway production, 1961 film, and
the original novel by C.Y. Lee. Hwang
helping the Air Force to make the best co-wrote another show in the 20012002 Music Center season, “Aida,” the
use of new funds from Congress to
Elton John-Tim Rice musical, which
fight terrorism, acting as a liaison
between Congress and the Air Force in appears at the Ahmanson Theatre.
“Aida” has been touring nationally
his role as an Air Force reservist
since March 2001. Hwang also co-wrote
assigned to the Pentagon to advise on
the screenplay for the forthcoming
budget and finance.
film “Possession” based on the novel by
A.S. Byatt and starring Gwyneth
Harry Gee, Jr.,
Paltrow. Hwang continues as a member
an attorney in
of the President’s Committee on the
Houston and a
national authority on Arts and the Humanities and has
worked for several years on another
immigration law,
White House project to raise funds for
chairs LEAP, the
national organization the Angel Island Immigration Station
in San Francisco.
that helps Asian
Americans gain leadership positions in
Robert Lee has
their chosen careers. A much earlier
been elected to the
position as President of the National
new position of
Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Committee of 100 cofrom 1990 to 1991 gave Gee a broad
chair, with his first
perspective on the professional develproject the developopment of Asian Americans. Gee is
ment of a C–100
also dedicated to cultural exchange as
strategic plan. He
a medium of understanding. He is the
brings to C–100 leadership 26 years of
president of Sister Cities of Houston,
experience as a top executive for
Inc., promoting ties with 14 sister
cities, including Shenzhen, China and Pacific Bell. Lee retired from the comTaipei, Taiwan (he previously was pres- pany in 1998 but remains active in
business as a board member of several
ident of the Houston Taipei Society).
high tech firms. Lee’s commentary on
Gee also is on the Southern Regional
the transformation of one of these
Advisory Board of the Institute of
firms, Micron Electronics, from a PC
International Education, the most
maker to a Web-hosting business, is
prominent national organization
featured in the Summer 2001 issue of
directing study abroad and internaCorporate Board Member. On the nontional visitors programs. As a strong
profit side, Lee is one of the founding
promoter of his city, Gee is a member
board members of the Asian Pacific
of the Greater Houston Partnership
Board and is on the board of Houston Fund, that attracts Asian American
donations to support over 50 Bay Area
2012 which is working to make
Houston the site of the 2012 Olympics. Asian American charities. Until recently, Lee was President of Youth Tennis
Advantage, founded by Arthur Ashe to
David Henry Hwang’s adaptation
bring tennis and tutoring to inner city
of the Rodgers and Hammerstein
kids in the Bay Area. He also sits on
musical “Flower Drum Song” opens
the Board of Councilors of the School
the Los Angeles Music Center’s Mark
of Engineering for the University of
Taper Forum 35th anniversary season
Southern California.
this October. The memorable score
MEMBER NEWS
“Watch China Move Up and
Southeast Asia Down” was the headline
of an editorial comment by Ronnie C.
Chan published in the International
Herald Tribune on May 23, 2001. His
views, which were the subject of a talk
he gave to the 34th International
General Meeting of the Pacific Basin
Economic Council in Tokyo this April,
pointed to reasons for China’s economic competitiveness compared to
Southeast Asian economies including
Singapore and Taiwan. He wrote: “In
terms of both financial and human
capital, [the ASEAN economies] are
not competitive. China has far more
foreign direct investment and is superior in manual labor, skilled labor and
technical expertise. The only exception is management know-how, a situation that will soon change. Young
Chinese are learning fast.”
President Bush
has appointed Matt
Fong Chairman of
the Advisory
Committee to the
Pension Benefit
Guaranty
Corporation (PBGC),
a federal agency that guarantees payment of employees’ pensions when
their companies go bankrupt. As
Chairman, Fong will represent the
interests of the public on the
Committee and uses his background as
California State Treasurer to oversee
the PBGC’s $20 billion investment
portfolio. In July, Fong withdrew his
nomination as Undersecretary of the
Army because of the lengthy confirmation process, a decision which may
have saved his life–the transition office
where he would have been working
was destroyed in the September 11 terrorism attack on the Pentagon.
Instead, this October Fong will be
(continued on page 7)
Fall 2001 page 8
MEMBER NEWS
(continued from page 7)
American
Express Company
Executive Vice
President James M.
Li was a close-up eyewitness to the horrific terrorist attacks on
the World Trade
Center. He was participating in a
videoconference on the top floor of
his company’s headquarters at the
World Financial Center located directly across the street. After the second
plane hit, nearly 5,000 American
Express employees evacuated safely,
but the World Financial Center was so
badly damaged it may be at least one
year before the building can be occupied again. Li has been with American
Express since 1979 and is a leading figure in several international trade and
tourism organizations. He chaired the
Middle Eastern Mediterranean Travel
and Tourism Association and the
Hong Kong Association of New York,
and is on the board of the U.S.–China
Chamber of Commerce, a bi-national
organization led by Prescott Bush. A
proud graduate of New York public
schools, Li was chair of the Public
Education Association of New York.
He also sits on the board of Junior
Achievement International, supporting
students in 100 countries.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma
acknowledged the
“unbelievable need
for people to come
together at this time”
and joined soprano
Leontyne Price and
James Levine on
piano for a free concert at Carnegie
Hall on September 30 to honor the
victims of the World Trade Center
attacks. Earlier that day he had played
at the funeral of his mentor, violinist
Isaac Stern, who had been an important nurturing presence in Ma’s life
and career since early childhood. Ma’s
Silk Road Project debuted this August
at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik
Festival in Germany and will be travel-
ing in the U.S. and Europe through
fall 2002. Composers from the lands of
the Silk Road, including China,
Mongolia, and Iran, created new works
for the Project combining traditional
and Western instruments (most often a
cello!) and inspired by the theme of
cross-cultural pollination. Because of
mounting tensions in Central Asia
since the September terrorist attacks,
fall 2001 concerts in Tajikistan and
Kazakhstan have had to be postponed.
Participating cities in the United States
are Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.,
New York, Berkeley, Seattle, and
Chicago.
Sociologist Betty
Lee Sung was the featured speaker at the
Asian American Bar
Association meeting
on May 4, held
beneath the New
York Supreme Court
Rotunda in Manhattan, where she
introduced the C–100 opinion survey
and analyzed its implications. On
October 2, she further explored
American views of Asian Americans as
the inaugural speaker for a
Department of Education-funded project, “The New Global Migration: Case
Studies in the Reshaping of World
Cultures.” She is one of several notable
experts on demography and immigration who will help faculty at
Montgomery College in Rockville, MD
add international content to their curriculum. Although she is now
Professor Emerita at City University of
New York, she continues to work to
establish an Asian American Research
Institute at CUNY, filling a need for
better information on East Coast Asian
Americans.
Since retiring as
U.S. Ambassador to
the Asian
Development Bank
in 1999, Ambassador
Linda Tsao Yang has
continued to be
active in Asian and
Asian American affairs. Yang is Acting
Chair of the Asian Corporate
Governance Association in Hong Kong
and spoke in July at the Tokyo meeting
of the International Corporate
Governance Network. In October, she
will be speaking at the World
Economic Forum in Hong Kong. Yang
serves on the board of the Pacific
Pension Institute in San Francisco,
contributing her expertise on the
investment climate in Asia and assisting the Institute’s exchange program
with pension funds in Asia (including
China). She is on the Advisory Board
of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy of
the RAND Corporation and is a member of the Asia Foundation Task Force
on the Role of America in Asia in the
21st Century. Yang works as a senior
advisor at Lombard Investments, a private equity investment firm in San
Francisco, and also is a trustee for the
TSAO Foundation in Singapore, a
non-profit program to develop programs for the aged.
My Country Versus
Me: The First-Hand
Account by the Los
Alamos Scientist Who
was Falsely Accused of
Being a Spy, Wen Ho
Lee’s story co-written
with Helen Zia, is to
be published in mid-January by
Hyperion Books, a subsidiary of
Disney. The book’s original October
2001 release was delayed because of
federal government review of the manuscript to allow removal of any text
deemed to reveal secret information.
The review was initiated by Lee, who
submitted the manuscript to Energy
Department security officials in July, a
process that would protect him from
future prosecution but can take many
months. Zia feels that the book will
have even more relevance next year as
increasing attention is paid to the use
of racial profiling in the fight against
terrorism.
Fall 2001 page 9
C-100 MEMBERS BLAZE PHILANTHROPHIC TRAIL FOR ASIAN AMERICANS
By Jane Leung Larson
Two days after the terrorist
attacks of September 11, C–100 member Charles B. Wang, Chairman of
Computer Associates, pledged $2 million from his company to a fund to
help children in need as a result of
the attacks.
Wang is but one example of
Chinese American philanthropy.
Although Chinese Americans aren’t
widely known for philanthropy outside their ethnic community, many do
give deeply and broadly. Committee
Bridges will be highlighting the generosity of some of our members’ philanthropic activities as a prelude to
next year’s annual conference in San
Jose (May 2-4, Hotel Fairmont).
Wang, for example, is often the
lead donor to a cause. In 1998 he not
only gave $10 million to initiated the
Smile Train–a project to provide corrective surgery to children with cleft
lip and palate in China and other
countries–but he also recruited Bill
Gates and other donors to join him.
Wang credits Brooklyn Technical
High School and Queens College, for
his success, and he has shown that
gratitude with generous support. But
his largest donation has been an
endowment of $25 million to the
State University of New York at Stony
Brook, the biggest gift in SUNY history and one of the largest donations by
any individual to a public education
institution.
Another C–100 member, industrialist Cyrus Tang, gives several million
dollars annually to educational and
medical causes. In 2000, Tang’s $5
million gift to the University of
Chicago created the Tang Center for
Herbal Medicine Research, which has
already made several newsworthy discoveries. For example, one Tangfunded study discovered that green
tea decreased appetite and prevented
or suppressed growth of prostate and
breast cancers in mice. Tang’s fund-
ing allows the Center to pursue basic
scientific research on Chinese herbs
and wide dissemination of the findings to academics and the public.
Perhaps the best known Chinese
American philanthropist is Oscar
Tang. He arrived in the U.S. as a
child speaking no English, but soon
was blessed with “the best of everything” the U.S. had to offer. He came
to realize, he said, that “selflessness is
what gives our lives meaning beyond
our own indulgence.” Culture and
education have been Tang’s priorities. Most significant has been Tang’s
support of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and its Chinese collections and
exhibit space, including the France
Young Tang Gallery, named for
Tang’s late wife. In 1999, Tang presented the Met with twelve important
paintings it had acquired from the
collector and artist, C.C. Wang,
including the famous Song Dynasty
landscape “Riverbank” that was the
centerpiece of a recent Met exhibition. Of equal weight in Tang’s philanthropic giving is education, with
major beneficiaries including Duke
University, Skidmore College and
Phillips Academy Andover.
Oscar Tang’s niece, C–100 member Leslie Tang Schilling, is a member of the third generation of the
Tang family reared and educated in
the U.S. Schilling’s family has given
millions of dollars to educational
institutions, including MIT, where she
is a trustee, and UC Berkeley, where
her sister, Nadine Tang, co-chaired a
$1 billion fundraising effort. The family foundation supports a variety of
institutions both small and large, a
major beneficiary being the Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco. Beyond
giving funds, Schilling volunteers her
time as a board member. She believes
that Asian Americans need to become
more involved in non-profit organizations, a process which will in turn
(continued on page 10)
Charles B. Wang
Leslie Tang Schilling
Oscar Tang
Fall 2001 page 10
C-100 MEMBERS BLAZE PHILANTHROPIC TRAIL
(continued from page 9)
lead to larger donations and
greater influence in American civic
life.
To move more Asian American
money to Asian American activist
organizations, C–100 member Jeff
Yang, founder of aMagazine, in
partnership with Charles B. Wang,
created the AURA Fund (Asians
United to Raise Awareness). With
$250,000 in seed money from
aMagazine and the Charles B.
Wang Foundation, the AURA Fund
hopes to attract like-minded Asian
American donors to support innovative Asian American organizations throughout the nation.
AURA’s program director, Michelle
Ko, says the Fund’s “long-term goal
is to bring a venture capital perspective to philanthropy in the
Asian American community” as
donors seek lasting social returns
on their gifts.
In the words of Jessica Chao, a
national expert on Asian American
philanthropy, “Philanthropy builds
our communities here and enables
us to have a civic voice by connecting us to the broader U.S. public. It
empowers us to help ourselves and
to succeed, and then offers us a way
to show our appreciation for our
good fortune.”
C-100
PRESS CLIPS
Los Angeles Times,September 23,2001
Extended excerpts from: “Melding the Asian and American Styles of Caring”
A United Way Campaign Chairman Builds on His Ancestry to Guide His Countrymen
into Mainstream U.S. Philanthropy
It’s not by accident that San Marino banker Dominic Ng raised a record $66 million for United Way of
Greater Los Angeles.
The first Asian American fund-raising campaign chairman for the charity achieved the milestone this summer
by following his well-honed recipe for tackling projects . . . learn all you can and make friends along the way.
His goal is “making a difference”–an important consideration in his life.
In the United Way campaign,he felt an added burden.He believed that his performance would reflect upon
the entire Asian American community.
At the same time, he saw an opportunity to connect Asian Americans to mainstream philanthropy.
Ng did his homework. Then,with the passion of a crusader, he went to work, expounding the virtues of
Western civic culture to his fellow Asian Americans.
“I asked so many of them to participate in the campaign that I am going to owe them for the rest of my life,”
Ng jokes.
Substantial contributions from Asian Americans helped the local chapter set this year’s record.
They gave $2.6 million in amounts over $100,000,with Ng’s Pasadena neighbors Peggy and Andrew Cherng,
topping the list. The Cherngs, owners of the Panda Restaurant Group, gave $1 million.
“The community has been kind of us, so it’s time to pay back,” Peggy Cherng said.
In that simple statement,Ng sees an Asian American philanthropic role model.
It is through involvement,he says, that people of Asian ancestry–an overwhelming majority of them immigrants–acquire a sense of belonging to their adopted country and become citizens with a stake in it.
Ng says that what Asian Americans gave United Way cannot be measured in financial terms alone .The giving
represents a process by which new Americans enter mainstream philanthropic culture.
Although Asian Americans have a long tradition of sharing their wealth, resources and time on this continent,
their giving has tended to be limited mostly to family, friends and numerous organizations within their communities.
It’s time to do both,Ng says. By combining the Asian practice of taking care of their own with the American
ethos of reaching out to the larger community, Asian Americans can have influence beyond their numbers, he
believes.
-K. Connie Kang
C L O S E T H E B O O K O N H A T E : T E A C H I N G C H I L D R E N TO L E R A N C E I N A D A N G E R O U S NE W W O R L D
Planned before the terrorist attacks of September 11,but even more relevant now with a proliferation of hate crimes against Arab and Muslim
Americans,“Close the Book on Hate”aims to improve the current atmosphere by educating teens, children and their parents about racism and bigotry.The Anti-Defamation League and Barnes & Noble stores are co-sponsoring the campaign which includes educational events and a free booklet,
“Close the Book on Hate: 101 Ways to Combat Prejudice,” by ADL director of education, Caryl Stern-LaRosa and runs from October 15 to November 15.
Fall 2001 page 11
Committee of 100
CULTURAL INSTITUTE
The Committee of 100 Cultural Institute works in the U.S. and China to enhance
mutual understanding and creative collaboration through art and culture
VERDI’S OPERA “DON CARLOS” PERFORMED FOR FIRST TIME
IN CHINA, PRODUCED BY C-100 CULTURAL INSTITUTE
ARTISTS COME TO SHANGHAI FROM WORLD’S TOP STAGES
China joined the
world in celebrating the
one hundredth anniversary of Guiseppe Verdi’s
death on August 31,
when the opera “Don
Carlos” was presented for
the first time on a
Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti
Chinese stage and was
greeted by a full house sings Verdi’s “Don Carlos”with Chinese student
Zhang Jin;Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in
of cheering opera
background.
enthusiasts at the
Shanghai Grand Theatre.
The Cultural Institute of the Committee of 100 produced “Don Carlos” as a semi-staged opera in concert led
by conductor John Nelson who conducted the Shanghai
Symphony Orchestra and by stage director John Norris,
both of the Metropolitan Opera. Shirley Young and Jane
Huang of the Cultural Institute assembled an international
cast of six opera stars, including the Beijing native, bass
Haojiang Tian (Filippo), who has been with the Met since
1991.
A semi-staged opera concert is not only more accessible
to an audience than a full-length opera, but with no costumes or sets, and only a few suggestive props and lighting,
much less expensive to produce. The Cultural Institute
introduced this new form to China to show how live
Western opera can be enjoyed by a larger audience, who
can follow the story as it is acted out on the stage and by
reading the libretto in Chinese as it is sung in Italian.
While rehearsals for “Don Carlos” were underway, the
Cultural Institute was also holding its second annual summer Opera Master Class at the Zhou Xiaoyan Opera Center
of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which aims to
develop world-class Western opera performers and is funded by the Marcenas Foundation. Once again led by
Metropolitan Opera coach Joan Dornemann, the threeweek class was offered to 63 talented young singers who had
auditioned from all over China and 160 auditors, including
many opera teachers. Eleven experienced coaches came to
China to teach voice, diction, movement, and acting. The
students also observed the rehearsals and performance of
“Don Carlos,” and one lucky soprano, Zhang Jin, was selected for a supporting role in the opera, singing with the recognized Verdi mezzo, Marianne Cornetti.
Next summer, the Cultural Institute will offer its third
opera master class and will add a new master class in strings
and piano for students under age 18, led by none other
than the violinist Itzak Perlman.
SHANGHAI DANCE ENSEMBLE HEADLINES VAIL
INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL
Every summer, a few select members
of the dance world are invited to perform in Colorado’s Vail International
Dance Festival. This August, thanks to
the assistance of C–100’s Cultural
Institute, the Shanghai Dance Ensemble
shared top billing with American Ballet
Theatre’s Ethan Stiefel and Stars. The
Cultural Institute helped pave the way
for the Festival to invite 19 dancers from
the Shanghai Song and Dance Company Cover of 2001 Vail dance
to participate in Vail, a task made easier festival program featurby the Cultural Institute’s extensive rela- ing Doudou Huang,
tionship with Shanghai cultural institu- Shanghai Dance
Ensemble
tions. Cultural Institute Chair Shirley
Young spoke at one of the Ensemble’s three performances,
introducing Chinese dance to the matinee audience of children and adults.
Chinese dance truly displays “Chinese characteristics,” a
unique form combining ballet, Chinese opera, martial arts,
ethnic dance, and acrobatics. The Shanghai Song and
Dance Company’s recently appointed artistic director is the
outstanding 24-year old dancer, Doudou Huang, whose
debut at the Vail festival in 1999 was assisted by C–100’s
Young. Now that Huang has become a cultural leader as
well as a performer, he plans to put promotion of Chinese
dance ahead of other goals for the next few years, in hopes
of “making the world realize the charm of Chinese dance”
(China Daily 9/6/01). Sure enough, the Ensemble’s performance at Vail brought a standing ovation and invitations
to more American dance festivals.
Argie and Oscar Tang, long-time supporters of the Vail
Valley Foundation, underwrote the Shanghai Dance
Ensemble’s appearance at the festival.
Fall 2001 page 12
2001 C O N F E R E N C E R E C A P : W T O A N D B E Y O N D
China is now ready to compete
with the world–on the world’s terms–
on Chinese territory, declared Chinese
Premier Zhu Rongji in April 1999 during discussions with President Clinton
on China’s WTO entry. Finally, after
fifteen years of arduous negotiations
including bilateral agreements with
nearly 40 different countries, China’s
accession to the WTO will become
official on December 10, after
approval at a November WTO meeting in Qatar. Taiwan’s membership
will follow a day later.
This April’s C–100 conference in
Washington featured a panel on
“WTO and Beyond” chaired by Robert
A. Kapp, President of the U.S.–China
Business Council, an organization representing American business interests
that has actively promoted WTO membership for China. The American side
of WTO negotiations was represented
by Malcolm Lee and Donald Phillips
and the Chinese side by Liu Guangxi.
Lee served in the Clinton White
House as the economic policy coordinator for the annual China Most
Favored Nation renewal and was on
the negotiation team for the historic
November 1999 U.S.–China Bilateral
WTO Agreement that resolved the
most serious issues holding China
Committee of 100
677 Fifth Avenue, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10022
A d d ress Service Requested
back from WTO accession. Phillips
was Assistant U.S. Trade
Representative for China and the
chief U.S. negotiator on China’s entry
into WTO. Liu has served for 13 years
as a key member of the Chinese delegation negotiating China’s WTO membership and was a special assistant to
China’s top WTO negotiator, Vice
Minister Long Yongtu.
Lee, one of the few Chinese
Americans in the U.S. government
working on China policy, emphasized
the profound stake that China has in
its future under WTO, with the
“potential to change the course of
Chinese history and therefore world
history.” He said that American critics
of WTO membership for China
haven’t questioned the market–opening benefits for the U.S., but fear that
opening WTO to China will dangerously strengthen a rising power and
potential enemy. In fact, entry into
WTO may be a highly destabilizing
factor for China, according to another
conference speaker, Kenneth
Lieberthal, former Clinton White
House advisor on East Asia, who
warned that the economic changes
mandated by WTO accession will produce massive shifts in who wins and
who loses. When combined with the
pressures of the upcoming political
succession in China, there is the possibility that the Chinese political system
will experience deep shocks in the
next few years.
Chinese WTO expert Liu Guangxi
said that the Chinese government was
well aware of the difficulties it faced
upon entering a global economy governed by the rule of law, burdened by
its huge size and highly centralized
economy. Kapp said that the Chinese
leadership long ago concluded that it
had no alternative to integration with
the global economy, knowing that
WTO membership would force them
to make such painful reforms as transparency in government economic policy. Liu said that China will live up to
its commitments under WTO and
described his work in educating cadres
on the rule of the market and the rule
of law.
Don Phillips contended that
although the U.S. had borne the heaviest international burden for hammering out a reasonable WTO agreement
with China, it will be “overwhelmingly
beneficial to the U.S.” Phillips said
that some felt that WTO membership
was “a big favor we’re bestowing on
China” when in fact “China has been
given a free ride before now.”
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