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W h a t ' s N e w
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WHAT'S NEW 2004 2003 2002 2001 SPECIAL FEATURES SECTIONS |
FEBRUARY
2004 NEWS
It is our hope that the current Lunar New Year Celebrations find you and your loved ones In midst of the vast array of events happening in the world and the United States (i.e. Schwarzenegger's State of the State Speech), Martin Luther King's birthday/Civil Rights movement, landing on Mars, large bank mergers (i.e. J.P. Morgan & BankOne, Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial Corp.), Iraq's new government, etc.), the Asian/Asian Pacific American communities are part of this unique and complex tapestry of communities that resides within the United States. In light of the vast spectrum of topics, issues and events that are related to our communities, we've divided the vast amount of news into various categories that are listed below:
Please note that upon "CLICKING" on each link listed within this section, one will have the ability to obtain additional in-depth information on each even.
APA MEDIA POLL
EVENTS
FILM
POLITICS
DIVERSITY
COMMUNITY
BUSINESS
SPORTS
COMEDY POLL
FILM POLL
MUSIC POLL
TELEVISION POLL
FEATURED ARTISTS & LEADERS
Noel Toy Young (who died in Antioch California on December 24, 2004 at the age of 84) was America’s first Chinese fan dancer. This sensual, outspoken and rebellious person was a true firecracker and a pioneer ahead of her time who help pave the way for Asian American performers throughout the country during a time where the were expected to be the prim, reticent and submissive Asian female stereotype. Known as Noel Toy, she was the nation’s first Chinese American fan dancer and one of the most famous women to practice the art. She dazzled audiences and raised eyebrows in the 1940’s with her seductive nude fan dances in sell-out performances across the county appearing on stage wearing nothing more than ostrich plumes. At a time when the majority of Chinese women in this country were first generation immigrants with little or no skills in the English language, Noel found a way to break through the stereotypes, learning and speaking more than five languages and proved that petite, exotic and beautiful Asian women could be just as rebellious, independent and outspoken as American men. Noel was born Ngun Yee (the first of eight children born to parents who came from Canton) on December 27, 1918 in a small farm town of Inverness in the San Francisco Bay Area that operated a laundry business. (Note: She chose to change her name to Noel Toy because she loved Christmas.) In 1939, while attending UC Berkeley, she took a part-time job posing as a nude model for international photographers at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. It was there that she was discovered by Charlie Low, owner of the first and only Chinese Nightclub in the United States called, "Forbidden City." He immediately signed her on as a nude fan dancer and in less than three months, business tripled as Noel was hailed as the "Chinese Sally Rand." She quickly made a name for herself and left Forbidden City to perform at other local nightclubs such as Kublai Kahn’s and The Sky Room where she incorporated large bubbles into her routine. Life Magazine featured a story on her calling her "the first and only Chinese Bubble Dancer in the country." Her undeniable beauty, skillful/graceful dance routines and clever retorts open the doors for her to perform at pack houses at New York’s Stork Club, Maxie’s, the 18th Club, Lou Walters’ Latin Quarter and the famous Leon and Eddie’s (for 26 weeks). In addition, she performed at Boston’s Rio Casino, San Francisco’s Music Box and Montreal’s Gayety Theatre. In 1945, she married actor and military man, Carleton S. Young (who died in 1994). Upon her husband's request, Noel went on to acting in numerous films including Soldier of Fortune starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward, How To Be Very Very Popular starring Betty Grable and Sheree North and The Left Hand of God starring Humphrey Bogart and Gene Tierney and Big Trouble In Little China starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrell. She also appeared in numerous television shows including MASH, Family Affair and Growing Pains. Mrs. Young grew tired of being typecast as "The Ornamental Oriental" and gave up acting for real estate in 1954. In 1969, she went into business with Joe Castagna becoming a partner Castagna Realty. Mrs. Young is
survived by two sisters, Lotus Now of Rio Vista and Alyce Wu of Walnut
Creek; and three brothers, Ken Hom of Hercules, Joe Hom of El Cerrito
and Henry Hom of Oakland – along with her nephew Michael Now.
Anna Chan Chennault was married to Flying Tigers’ General Claire Chennault, the first female reporter for the Central News Agency, first person of Chinese ancestry to be a success in politics in the United States, “secret ambassador” in cross-strait relations and in Washington D.C. was known as "the hostess of Washington." In 1981, she has established the "Chen Hsiang-mei Education Prize" (Chen Hsiang-mei being the Mandarin pronunciation of her Chinese name) in more than a dozen cities in mainland China in order to encourage outstanding teachers with a prize 2,500 yuan (US $300) each. Her father was a diplomat. When Anna Chan was small (born in 1925) she was the most opinionated and stubborn of all his six daughters. Rejecting her father’s wishes to study abroad during China’s war with Japan, her student life was spent at a Hong Kong middle school and at Guangdong’s Lingnan University. In 1945, Anna Chan turned 20 and upon graduation became the first woman reporter at the Central News Agency. Her initial assignments had her doing stories on the wives of American officers in China. Having a distaste of these wives’ disdain attitude, she transferred to reporting directly on the U.S. military where she met her future husband – Flying Tigers’ Claire Chennault. Early in the war against Japan before the United States’ involvement, General Chennault had to resign his military commission and go to China as a civilian to help the Republican government organize an air force. The Flying Tigers squadron that he trained made him immensely popular among Chinese servicemen and civilians alike. (Note: In 1941, a group of American pilots formed the Flying Tigers Fleet to transport arms and other materials, and carried out air raids to support China against Japanese invaders.) They got married
despite Chinese society not looking kindly upon this kind of love
affair between an older foreign man and a younger Chinese woman, along
with American diplomatic and military personnel were not allowed to
marry foreign women except under special circumstances during the
1950’s. After her husband’s death, she had to address legal problems over the airline he had founded and sold to the CIA (because of his ties to Taiwan), with lawsuits tied up in Hong Kong for two years. After resolving these issues, she moved to the U.S. to raise her children and found a job translating foreign language textbooks into English for Georgetown University. She acquired a reputation in academia, and later was hired as a program host by the Voice of America. She also wrote articles for the media in Taiwan while being active in Washington social circles. She was very active in Republican Party affairs, with posts including co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee's Finance Committee (1966-1983) and twice chairman of the National Republican Heritage Groups Council while gaining the trust of the White House. U.S. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan all asked her to take on various informal tasks for them. In 1963, President Kennedy named her the chairman of the Chinese Refugees Relief Committee, making her the first person of Chinese ancestry to be named to the White House staff. She would serve as an envoy between the United States, People’s Republic of China and Taiwan because of her strong political relationships with these respective countries. In 1989, she headed a trade group from the U.S. Council for International Cooperation-which also included Taiwan businessmen-on a visit to China, marking the beginning of Taiwan business activities in mainland China. Chennault published her first collection of poetry and essays when she was only 20. She has so far published more than 50 works in English and Chinese. The Overseas Chinese Artists Association of United States will produce a Qin Jian-directed film of her family that portrays a warrior in the past and an envoy of peace at present, would bring people a far-reaching self- reflection of the war launched by human in the 20th century, and lead people to pray for the peace of the 21st century.
At the age of three, his parents moved to New York and began working around the clock at restaurants to save money to educate their three children. Having a distaste of Catholic school, he emulated an older cousin who was a lieutenant, or dai mai, in the Ghost Shadows, a feared street leader who commanded respect and free meals throughout the Chinatown labyrinth. Ceng (aka “Airplane”) joined the Ghost Shadows at 13. Cops caught up with him a year later when he was arrested for throwing a brick through a restaurant's window after its owner refused to pay extortion fees to the gang. Ceng's rap sheet includes more than a dozen arrests since he was 14 and serving time for murder. This was happening during the late 1980s and early '90s where NYC’s Chinatown was like the Wild West, with gun battles erupting outside massage parlors and casinos secreted in tenement basements. There were frequent murders, and some of those victims were very close to Ceng. His cousin was murdered in 1993. A year later, Ceng became the gang's youngest dai mai, commanding a group of 20 armed teenagers. Now running Yello – he is silent partner in this NYC Chinatown nightclub on Mulberry Street that is a hot spot for Asian celebrities and jet-setters because convicted felons are ineligible for liquor licenses - Ceng expresses remorse for his past deeds. Ceng opened the nightclub after he was released from federal prison in 2001, having served five years for setting up the 1996 robbery of a Chinatown man who was trafficking in illegal food stamps that resulted in the target's 17-year-old son being shot dead after putting up a fight. A recent confrontation
occurred at the club between hip hop star Jin and aspiring rapper
Raymond Yu that ended with a bullet in Jin's friend Christopher Louie,
23, who survived the attack.
Rev. Jonathan Chao, a Christian missionary who spent 25 years teaching his faith in his native China and tracking the development of Christianity in that country under Communist rule, has died of Lymphoma at the Citrus Valley Hospice in West Covina on January 12 at the age of 65. Born in northeastern China and raised in Japan, Chao moved to Los Angeles as a teenager in 1958. His father, a Presbyterian minister, was invited to California to help establish a program to translate the Bible into Chinese. One of 10 children, Chao knew that he wanted to be a missionary to China from the time he was 16. He graduated from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., and earned a Master of Divinity degree at Westminster Theological Seminary and a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1965, he married his wife, Rebecca, who worked with him to mentor a number of seminary students and young ministers. They had no children. Beginning in 1978, Chao traveled to China more than 100 times from his home in West Covina to train ministers to lead the Christian "house church" movement. The underground movement began in private homes soon after the Communist takeover of the country in 1949, when religious practice was restricted. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, restrictions eased and a wave of Christian evangelism surfaced in China. Chao quietly began to lead training sessions despite the possibility of government repression. He managed to avoid arrest but was blacklisted and forbidden to reenter the country. Chao founded China Ministries International, with branches in six countries, to research the growth of Christianity in modern China. The group estimates that there are now at least 65 million Christians in China. To facilitate his goals, he helped establish several training centers near China, including the Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong. Chao wrote numerous articles and books, including a Chinese missionary handbook. His "A History of Christianity in Socialist China, 1949-1997," published in 1998, is perhaps his best-known work. Chao is survived
by his father, the Rev. Charles Chao; his mother, Pearl; his wife;
and eight brothers and sisters.
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OUR GOALS The purposes of this section are the following: OPPORTUNITY APA & MEDIA NEWS
ANNA MAY WONG FILM RETROSPECTIVE
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
CONFERENCE
UPCOMING
ASIAN AMERICAN ICE SKATERS
UPCOMING APA CABLE TV STATIONS
MOVEON.ORG
& POLITICS
ABC & CANTONESE
OPERA They (Kill Bill, Last Samurai and Lost in Translation) are the objects of heated debate, particularly among Asian-Americans and Japanese, about whether Hollywood's current depictions of Japan are racist, naïve, well-intentioned, accurate — or all of the above. Read More>>>>>
ASIAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN SUICIDE RATES
LEGEND OF FIRE HORSE WOMAN
LA CAJA CHINA
CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTING
B.C.'S TWO WONGS DON'T MAKE A WRIGHT
JOHN WOO & CHOW YUN-FAT FILM
PIPA AND GAO HONG
MICHELLE KWAN'S ONGOING SUCCESS
CHINK'S STEAKHOUSE
THEATER REVIEW: FLOWER DRUM SONG
MICHELLE WIE
RAV'S OBSESSION WITH THEATER
FILIPINO DOCTORS BECOME NURSES
NORAH JONES RETURNS
PARK EXPANDS THE SPIRIT OF PUNK
INDIAN AMERICANS WIN MARSHALL SCHOLARSHIP
KENSEI OGATA AWARDED PURPLE HEART
GUY KAWASAKI PROVIDES ADVICE
ASIAN PRESENCE AT SUNDANCE
RUSSELL WONG IN "TWISTED"
MARGARET CHO'S WORDS AT MOVEON EVENT
BAI LING IN "MY BABY'S DADDY"
JOHN WOO & CHINESE HISTORY
DONG FANGZHOU
LEONARDO NAM'S "PERFECT SCORE"
GLENN YAMAHIRO
ASIAN AMERICAN WRITERS' WORKSHOP'S DEMISE
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S "THE VILLAGE"
THE FUTURE OF JUSTIN LIN
DANCE & THE SOUTH ASIAN FEMALE
TOMMY CHONG
MR. WONG DVD RELEASE
APA VIDEO GAME ENTREPRENEURS
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
CONFERENCE
STEVE KERR & YAO MING
GEN. WESLEY CLARK'S APA AGENDA
VIVIAN SHUH MING LOUIE'S VIEWS
INTERVIEW: JOSEPH KAHN
LAST SAMURAI FIGHT SCENES
INTERVIEW: JOHN WOO
INTERVIEW: XIN XIN XIONG
INTERVIEW: RONNIE YU
LEUNG'S ARREST CURTAIL APA INVOLVEMENT
APA'S NATIONAL GROWTH
LA CATHEDRAL CELEBRATES CHINESE NEW YEAR
APRIL W WILKNER
OFFENSIVE REMAKRS HAPPEN EVERYWHERE
SMILE - FILM IN CHINA & U.S.
DEVON AOKI IN D.E.B.S.
KIWI ACTRESS MAKES HISTORY
HK'S "INFERNAL AFFAIRS"
OVERVIEW: ASIAN MUSIC
TAIWAN'S CHINA
UNIVERSE FILMS FEATURES POP STARS
ANN HU'S "FEI"
CHINA'S GROWING MARKET FOR LINGERIE
R.I.P.: KIHARU NAKAMURA
LOVE OR HATE
JAPANESE HONESTY
CHINA'S POLICY ON INTERNET USAGE
KROC'S $1.5 BILLION DONATION
HERTZBERG & SCHWARZENEGGER
TOYOTA PASSES FORD
R.I.P.: MOLLY KELLY
SCHWARZENEGGER INSIDER - SCOTT COX
REVIEW: COLD MOUNTAIN
GOD & POLITICS |
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