American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Christopher Marut yesterday acknowledged the contributions made by Chinese immigrants to the US since the 1850s, saying they “have helped make the US what it is today.”
At the opening ceremony of an exhibition titled “Immigrants Building America,” Marut said he hoped that visitors to the exhibit would “feel a sense of pride in how Chinese immigrants played a critical role in the American success story.”
What the Chinese immigrants have experienced in the US are all “inspiring stories” and they have contributed to the growth of the US, he said.
Chinese immigrants, known as “ethnic Chinese (華裔)” in Mandarin, are defined as people from Taiwan and China who immigrated to the US to help build US society, AIT spokesman Mark Zimmer said.
The AIT is hosting the exhibition in conjunction with the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission and National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to highlight the important contributions Chinese immigrants have made to the US over the decades.
Marut said he apologized if there were some people whom visitors consider important who were left out of the exhibition.
“The truth is, there are so many inspiring stories, we did not have time or space to include them all. And that is the point. These are inspiring stories. People like the ones we talk about in the exhibit and those we didn’t mention who have helped make the United States what it is today,” he said.
The three-week exhibition, which will run until Oct. 10 in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, gives visitors an overview of the history of Chinese immigration in the US, and shows the hardship the immigrants have endured and the perseverance they have shown.
Like so many other immigrants who came to the US to earn money and send it home, the lives of Chinese immigrants were filled with hard work and many difficulties, but they faced more difficulties than some other immigrant groups, Marut said.
In 1882, the US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Acts to limit the number of Chinese who were able to come to the US. The law was not repealed until 1943.
When the law was in force, the only Chinese allowed to enter the US were merchants, diplomats, students and tourists, and neither the federal nor any state government could nationalize any Chinese.
On June 18, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution expressing regret for the restrictions that had been imposed on Chinese immigration, Marut said.
“It is only the fourth time in US history that the House has apologized for historical actions. In passing the resolution, the House acknowledged and applauded the important contributions that Chinese-Americans have made — and continue to make — to the success of the United States,” Marut said.
On Thursday next week, Arthur Dong (曾奕田), an Academy Award-nominated US documentary filmmaker whose films focus on topics such as Asian American history and identity, and gay rights, will be in Taipei talking about his documentaries and his life as an immigrant in the US.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS