VOL 33 NO 49 | NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5, 2014

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VOL 33 NO 49 NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014 FREE 32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ NAMES IN THE NEWS Lee appointed at Amazon Douglas Lee, an Executive Development Institute alum (2012) has been appointed as Amazon’s Regional Head of Solutions Architecture, Asia Pacific, in the World-wide Public Sector (WWPS) team within Amazon Web Services. He will be spending a portion of his time Douglas Lee building and growing the business in APAC, while developing technical and business relationships at the Amazon headquarters, and with WWPS teams in the U.S. 

the Chinese government and prominent mainland Chinese entertainment personalities. Diana Peng (Peng Dan) was the first Chinese to win a full scholarship at The Juilliard School (in ballet) and later performed professionally in New York. She then went back to star in movies in Hong Kong. She is now directing. 

Local students create video game

Yolanda Eng and Tony Vo

Chinese actress/director awarded

Vo represented the Southeast Asian American Access in Education (SEAeD) Coalition, together their event focused on four key topics,; college affordability, bullying, data disaggregation, and AANAPISIs (Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Servicing Institutions). 

Restaurant advocate Intelligence Factor Games Studio team

Peng Dan (second from left)

There was a showing of NanNiWan at the UW on Nov 10.

Director and main actress Peng Dan was in attendance and received a”Renowned Actress and Director” award. The event was hosted by two students organizations, American Peony Art & Culture Association - UW Chapter, and HUA Voice Radio.

The film is about the New Fourth Army Incident which took place in January of 1941.

The screening was attended by various officials from

Jennifer Tam is the new Restaurant Advocate for the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Intelligence Factor Game Studios, is a new video game Development. Her job is to help company made entirely of Issaquah High School freshmen. restaurants navigate the different They developed a game called Pressed-In which was rules and regulations. The just released on the Google Play and the App Store. The “Restaurant Success” initiative students developed, programmed, coded, designed, and is a public-private partnership published it during the course of last summer to current. between the state of Washington, They’ve had over 150 downloads and have already made a the city of Seattle, King County small profit from ads and flyers.  and the Washington Restaurant Association. The initiative was Jennifer Tam developed in collaboration with more than 17 agencies and Two former NW Asian Weekly Summer Youth organizations, and includes a comprehensive, one-stop Leadership Program (SYLP) Coordinators, Yolanda Eng online guide with city, county, and state permitting and and Tony Vo came together Nov. 13 to host a dialogue licensing information, and tools to help restaurateurs easily on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in education. navigate the process.  Eng, represented the White House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders as their E3 Ambassador,

Dialogue on API and education

32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ TOP CONTRIBUTOR

By Staff Northwest Asian Weekly Dat Giap loved sciences in high school. He thought he wanted to be an electrical engineer “when I grow up,”… but it was not until his first year in college, that he realized his weakness. He did fine in everything, but he had some troubles with physics, in figuring out how to work with electrical currents, fluid movement, etc.

He could memorize formulas and calculate the voltage or the amperes of tubes, but they were… abstract.

He preferred chemistry and biology, so he decided to go into the health professions. The choice was simple, almost by default: since his oldest brother went to medical school, he decided he then would go to dental school.

Giap was born in Hanoi in 1952, in a large family, with a sister and five brothers. In 1954, after the Geneva convention accord was signed, his family moved south. Giap’s family lost almost everything, and had to start all over again. He felt pressure to work harder since his dad worked for the government, and the

Dat Giap

Local dentist contributes volunteer work and smiles family had to move every two or three years to a different province or city. He felt he always had to do better in his new classes (if not being the best) due to being the son of the province chief/deputy chief.

The biggest event in Giap’s life happened in 1975. He got a draft deferral from military service to go to dental school and upon graduation, he was drafted to serve in the RVN armed forces.

The war was over in a bitter way and he became a stateless person.

Fresh out of dental school, he came to the United Stated as a refugee and he felt he had to start his life all over again just like his parents did in 1954. He was admitted to the University of Alabama School of Dentistry in 1978 and graduated in 1981. He worked for a year in Houston, and six years in New Orleans where he met his future wife when she

Dat Giap

did her residency at LSU medical center. They were married in 1988 and moved to Seattle. They decided on Seattle because of the

moderate weather and its good school system, and from what they heard from friends, the city would be a good place to start a family.

Looking back, Giap feels the last 26 years has been a blessing.

He has a family with two kids; his son Chris, 22, just graduated from University of Washington with a degree in accounting, and his daughter Veronica, now 17, is a senior at Bellevue High School.

“My wife and I feel blessed to be in the health professions so we can help people with our skills,” Giap says. “It’s always the appreciation, the smiles, and the few words from the people’s hearts that make our days.”

Giap also provides community service working with senior citizens and the homeless. Working for the UGM dental clinic for the homeless, he worked with a pastor who was a drug addict: he lost

“It’s always the appreciation, the smiles, and the few words from people’s hearts that make our days. It’s the satisfaction to know that we did something that helps people, that changes people’s lives, or smiles, that brings us true happiness.”

his job, his house, his wife, and his family. “He went through his struggles and helped himself stay clean and for the last 10 years and now works for Boeing.” Giap recounts. “If we could work hard to help these homeless people and have just one case like this every year, every two years, or even every five or 10 years, then our efforts are all worth it.”

His advice as a dentist?

Having regular dental check-ups, brushings and flossing your teeth right after eating will help prevent tooth decay and gum problems.

Also inform your dentists of any change in your medical history will help them serve you better.

“Your dentists want to be your friends and want to see you in happy times, not when you are in severe pain or swelling,” he says.

He advises to wear mouth guards if you play sports and if you feel something is not “right”, please call your dentist immediately, “ and your dentists and their staff will be more than happy to see you now, rather than later, before the problem becomes bigger and more complicated.”  Staff can be reached at info@

— Dr. Dat Giap nwasianweekly.com.

■ community news

First-degree murder trial under Chinese student convicted of fatal way for “Dinh” Bowman

By Minal Singh Northwest Asian Weekly

Thomas Dinh Bowman

The trial prosecuting the murder of Yancy Noll began last Wednesday, two years after the night of Noll’s death, Aug. 31, 2012 and the defendant’s arrest on Sept, 21, 2012. The defendant is Thomasdinh “Dinh” Bowman, 31, who was driving a silver BMW, and was reported to have fired five shots to the head at motorist Noll into the window of his red Subaru at the intersection of 15th Ave. Northeast and Northeast 75th St. The prosecution’s case, from police reports and eyewitness accounts, shows a man whose motive was to experience the act of murdering someone. For weeks after Noll’s killing, Seattle citizens and investigators were interpreting the shooting as motivated by road rage. On a tip matching Bowman’s face with the artist

sketch of the suspect, police targeted Bowman in the investigation procuring search warrants for his home.

On Bowman’s computer they found, according to the trial brief, “hundreds of articles, books, learned treatises, videos, and manuals dealing with how to be an assassin, how to commit murder.” Police also found the BMW’s window had been repaired and had new tires. Bowman, accompanied by his wife, drove to Portland the day after Noll’s murder, where he paid cash, under a different name, to repair his window.

The trial brief discusses concealment of the older tires, dismantlement of his firearm, and turning off of his cell phone.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Scott O’Toole, said in a post-arraignment interview, “We haven’t yet established a motive. We don’t know we ever will. The law doesn’t require proof of a motive. To the extent we can find it, we will find it.” In court, prosecutors recount a series of events that build their case against Bowman and characterize him as having premeditated a random act of killing.

“They were looking for someone with a motive. They had no idea they were looking for a student of murder, for someone for whom the murder was the motive,” stated Adrienne McCoy, Senior Deputy Prosecutor in her opening statement. Defense attorney, John Henry Browne declined to make opening remarks and plans to plead for the defendant after the prosecution has made their case. According to KIRO Radio, Browne describes the defendant’s case as an incidence of road rage done in self defense.

The trial will be ongoing, estimated to last for several more weeks. The Yancy Noll Memorial Page, established on facebook as a tribute to Noll, is posting updates about the trial schedule. 

crash deported

A 21-year-old Chinese man convicted of vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment for a 2012 Des Moines crash was deported Thursday

by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Yichun Xu was placed on a commercial flight from Seattle back Yichun Xu to China Nov. 20 by ERO officers.

The former South Puget Sound Community College student came to the attention of ERO following his November 2012 arrest on multiple vehicular assault charges. Court records state Xu failed to stop at a stop sign and struck another vehicle, killing the driver and severely injuring three passengers. At the time Xu was lawfully present in the country on a student visa.

Xu pleaded guilty in February to vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless endangerment. He was sentenced in March to 17-and-a-half months in state prison.

Xu came to ERO custody after his release from state prison and was placed into removal proceedings. On Nov. 6 an immigration judge ordered Xu removed. As part of the order, Xu is banned from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years. 

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32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ world news

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

5

Boxing emerging as big draw with Pacquiao in China

By Tim Dahlberg AP Boxing Writer

Manny Pacquiao

MACAU (AP) — Bob Arum learned something about Chinese boxing fans earlier this year at the promoter’s first fight card in Shanghai, where the crowd yelled and cheered for the home country boxers all the way up until the main event.

Then, with no Chinese fighter in the ring, they suddenly went quiet.

“There was nothing,” Arum said. “Halfway through the fight half the crowd walked out.”

That they stayed that long is an indication that Chinese fans are at least beginning to understand a sport once banned in the country. That wasn’t the case in April last

year when two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming made his pro debut and professional boxing made its debut in the gambling enclave of Macau.

“The first show we did with Zou you could have heard a pin drop,” the longtime promoter said. “They didn’t know how or when to cheer or seem to understand much about it.”

They will be much louder Sunday morning when Zou is the featured undercard fighter as Manny Pacquiao returns to the ring in the main event against New York’s Chris Algieri. Hotel officials expect the arena at the massive Venetian resort will be filled with bleary-eyed gamblers long before the main event. {see PACQUIAO cont’d on page 11}

Longer visas for Chinese Do’s and don’ts for Thai could spur US tourism tourists in Japan

By Deepti Hajela Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A rule change allowing Chinese visitors to return to the U.S. multiple times over a 10-year period is being hailed as a boon to American tourism, with the federal government predicting the economic impact could be $85 billion by 2021.

Chinese visitors are already familiar faces in major U.S. destinations such as New York City, San Francisco and Las Vegas, but other parts of the country could also see a boost.

“One simple decision like this ... is going to reap tremendous benefits to the country,” said Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, the public-private partnership responsible for marketing the

United States as a travel destination.

The U.S. and China jointly announced the change last week at a conference of world leaders in Beijing, and it has already gone into effect. Business and short-term visas that currently expire after one year will now be valid for 10 years, while student and cultural exchange visas will last for five.

Obtaining a U.S. visa involves waiting in long lines at a consulate during the work day, passing an interview and then waiting at least three days, a process that won’t change under the new rules.

Chinese have been among the fastestgrowing and highest-spending U.S. visitors in recent years. In 2013, there were about 1.8 million Chinese visitors to the {see VISAS cont’d on page 14}

By Jocelyn Gecker Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Embassy in Japan has some tips for Thai visitors: Don’t put your chopsticks in the serving bowl. If driving, stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. And just because you have kids doesn’t mean you can cut the queue.

The advice is part of a new online manners guide the embassy has posted on its Facebook page in response to criticism on social media about the behavior of Thai tourists in Japan. Most of the criticism came from Thai residents in Japan who reported sightings of “inappropriate” behavior on a popular Thai web forum, which inspired the embassy’s consular chief to pen the list of 10 do’s and don’ts.

“Japanese society is very unique. It

is a society with strict rules that are not always obvious to visitors,” said Jessada Nanthachaiporn, the chief consul, who said he intended the list as an educational tool, not as criticism of either culture.

Written in Thai, the code of conduct begins with escalator etiquette: Stand on the left, or walk on the right. Except in the central Kansai region, where the opposite applies.

There is separate elevator advice: The first person in holds the open button for others and should be the last person to leave.

In many ways, Thai and Japanese societies are similar, with sophisticated rules of etiquette and many shared cultural {see THAI TOURISTS cont’d on page 14}

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The only weekly English-language newspaper serving Washington’s Asian community. The NW Asian Weekly has one simple goal: “To empower the Asian community.”

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR THU 11/27

WHAT: ACRS Thanksgiving Luncheon WHERE: ACRS, 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S., Seattle WHEN: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

COST: Free RSVP: 206-695-5967, victorl@ acrs.org INFO: acrs.org

WED 12/3 WHAT: December Civic Cocktail WHERE: Tom Douglas Palace Ballroom, 2100 Fifth Ave., Seattle WHEN: 5:30 p.m.

COST: $10-$15 INFO: healthcare.gov

THU 12/4 WHAT: Screening of “Seven Samurai” WHERE: 1515 12th Ave., Seattle

WHEN: 7 p.m.

INFO: nwfilmforum.org

FRI 12/5 WHAT: WSCRC Annual Banquet with keynote speaker Jian Wang, CTO Alibaba Group WHERE: Hyatt Olive 8, Seattle WHEN: 5:30-9 p.m.

INFO: www.wscrc.org WHAT: Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber December Luncheon, “China’s Current Challenges, Reform and Implications for U.S. Business” with Yi Ping Chan WHERE: Han’s Garden, 3020 78th Ave. S.E., Mercer Island WHEN: 11:30-1:30 p.m.

COST: $20

SAT 12/6 WHAT: Kingdom of Tonga Tea Experience WHERE: Asia Pacific Cultural Center, 4851 S. Tacoma Way,

■ nation

Man charged in subway shove held without bail AP Wire Service

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of shoving a stranger in front of a New York City subway train, killing him, has appeared before a judge who ordered him held without bail.

Kevin Darden did Kevin Darden not enter a plea during a hearing Wednesday evening in Bronx Criminal Court.

Police say 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok (wy koon kwok) was standing with his wife on a Bronx subway platform on Sunday when Darden pushed him in front of an approaching train. The 34-year-old Darden was picked up Tuesday evening and charged with seconddegree murder.

He remained silent throughout Wednesday’s court proceeding.

His attorney, Edward McGowan, said outside court that he wants to remind people that his client is not a monster but rather a human who should be presumed innocent.

Kevin Darden, who has a history of arrests for assault and robbery, was picked up by detectives Tuesday near his mother’s home in the Bronx.

Police said he had been busted for pickpocketing on Nov. 9 — one week before authorities say he pushed Wai Kuen Kwok off a subway platform in front of a train.

Charges against Darden also are pending in a separate subway station encounter earlier this month, police said. In that case, a man was pushed to the ground at another station and suffered minor injuries.

Police didn’t release a home address for Darden, 34, and it wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer.

Kwok was standing with his wife on a {see DARDEN cont’d on page 13}

Tacoma WHEN: 10 a.m.

COST: $5/member, $10/nonmember WHAT: Multicutural Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair WHERE: St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1610 S. King St., Seattle WHEN: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

INFO: 206-323-5250, www. stpeterseattle.org WHAT: 3rd annual Rogers Reindeer Fun Run WHERE: Heritage Rec Center & Trails, South Hill, Puyallup WHEN: 9:05 a.m.

REGISTER: active.com, rogersreindeerrun.com

THRU SUN 12/7 WHAT: The NAPCA Helpline help reviewing and enrolling in prescription drug plans ENGLISH LINE: 800-336-2722 CHINESE LINE: 800-582-4218

KOREAN LINE: 800-582-4259 VIETNAMESE LINE: 800582-4336

SUN 12/7 WHAT: Create handmade greeting cards WHERE: Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 3 WHEN: 1-3 p.m.

INFO: 206-386-4636

THRU 12/10 WHAT: Preparing for US Citizenship WHERE: Highline College, Building 19, Room 101, 2400 S. 240th St., Des Moines WHEN: 1-3:30 p.m.

COST: Free INFO: 206-592-3856, jsmucker@highline.edu

WED 12/10 WHAT: Seattle CityClub’s Year

in Review WHERE: Westin Seattle, 1900 Fifth Ave., Seattle WHEN: 11:30 a.m.

COST: $12-$55

SAT 12/13 WHAT: Making Spirits Bright WHERE: Dairyland Farm, 13428 Shorts School Rd., Snohomish WHEN: 6:30-9:30 p.m.

COST: $15/person TICKETS: www.klahayadays. com/MakingSpiritsBright INFO: info@klahayadays.com

SUN 12/14 WHAT: NVC Children’s Christmas Party WHERE: NVC Memorial Hall, 1212 S. King St., Seattle WHEN: 12-3 p.m.

INFO: seattlenvc.org

32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ arts & entertainment

Japan actor Takakura, known for stoic heroes, dies

By Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Ken Takakura, a craggy-faced, quiet star known for playing outlaws and stoic heroes in scores of Japanese films, has died of lymphoma. He was 83.

Perhaps best known abroad for his police inspector role in Ridley Scott’s “Black Rain” in 1989, Takakura died Nov. 10 at a Tokyo hospital where he was treated for the illness, according to his office and media reports Tuesday.

He surged to stardom after his 1956 debut, becoming an icon in yakuza films such as “Abashiri Prison” in the 1960s.

Much of his appeal to the Japanese public stemmed from his image as a hero fighting authority figures on behalf of the poor and weak.

But in a career spanning more than 200 films he sometimes played comic roles, such as his 1992 potrayal of a coach in “Mr. Baseball.”

Likened to Clint Eastwood, Takakura starred in detective stories and dramas including the 1977 film “The Yellow Handkerchief” and 1999’s “Railroad Man,” which won him a best actor award at the Montreal World Film Festival.

The news of his death topped Japanese news programs almost nonstop, and major newspapers distributed extras in downtown Tokyo.

Unlike many Japanese celebrities, Takakura shunned the usual rounds of television variety shows and melodramas, maintaining a John Wayne-like aura of toughness.

Born in 1931 as Goichi Oda in Fukuoka, southern Japan, he was recruited by a major film production while he was applying for a managerial position.

Takakura’s friends and admirers described him as humble, honest and reserved in his real life, too.

“He was the last big star (in Japan),” said Shintaro Ishihara, 82, an award-winning writer and politician. “And

Ken Takakura

yet, Ken-san lived a really healthy, sound life, unlike many other stars who often end up paying the price later on.”

Even though he played many outlaw roles in yakuza films, Takakura said today’s gangster movies didn’t interest him.

“I like movies that picture the human heart and linger with me,” he told an interviewer of the Japan Subculture Research Center. “The Deer Hunter,” “Gladiator,” and “The Godfather” were among his favorites, he said.

In the 2012 award-winning “Dearest,” the last of Takakura’s films, he plays a retired prison warden who goes on a soul-searching trip with a postcard that arrived after his wife’s death.

According to a fax released by his office, Takakura was preparing for his next project while in the hospital.

In 2013, when Takakura attended a ceremony to receive Japan’s highest cultural award, the Order of Culture, at the Imperial Palace, he joked that he had often played characters considered most distant from the exalted realm of the palace.

“In movies, I’m most often an ex-convict. I’m grateful for the award despite many of these roles I’ve played,” Takakura said. “I really believe that hard work pays off.” 

■ briefly

All sale lasts from Friday 11/28 to Thursday 12/4

1221 S. King St., Seattle ∙ 206-720-0969 Monday—Sunday: 8:30 a.m.—8 p.m. lamsseafood.com

back through teamwork and innovative leadership. Over the past 20 years, EDI participant teams have assisted 90 non-profit agencies and worked on over a 120 projects for these agencies. This year, nonprofit organizations are encouraged to submit proposals by December 31, 2014.

EDI is a nonprofit organization that provides leadership development to diverse individuals with the goal of meeting the growing imperative for global leaders. 

The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson will visit Seattle for a series of meetings with community, business and religious leaders November 30 – December 2. A free community event will kick off his multiday visit at Mt. Zion Baptist Church 1634 19th Ave, in Seattle on Sunday November 30. A reception for Rev. Jackson will be held starting at 5:00 p.m. and the event will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m.

“Rev. Jackson has said the struggle

for job and income equity in the high tech sector is the civil rights issue of this decade,” said Nate Miles, chair of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle board of directors. “Seattle is at the forefront of training and education for high-tech sector jobs. His visit will bolster the Urban League’s mission to ensure more women and minorities get the training and jobs they deserve.” The event is free and open to the public. 

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Reverend Jesse Jackson visits Seattle

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The Executive Development Institute (EDI) offers the Atsuhiko Tateuchi Memorial Scholarship to potential participants applying to EDI’s leadership programs. Interested candidates should be an Asian Pacific Islander leader, currently working for a community nonprofit organization. The scholarship of $3,850 covers the full tuition of EDI’s Leadership Discovery program, but can also be used to cover the partial expense of the Navigation program. The deadline to apply is December 15, 2014.

As part of EDI’s leadership programs, community projects allow participants to experience the rewards of giving

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asianweekly northwest

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ arts & entertainment

Respect!: Celebrating Seven Samurai’s 60th anniversary

By Ninette Cheng Northwest Asian Weekly On December 4, Seattle will be hosting a film screening of Akira Kuwosawa’s Seven Samurai for its 60th anniversary. In addition to celebrating the anniversary, the event will also introduce viewers to film veteran Richard D. Pepperman’s newest book “Everything I Know About Filmmaking I Learned Watching Seven Samurai.”

Co-hosted by The Northwest Film Forum, Seattle Film Institute and Elliot Bay Bookstore, the event will begin at 7:00P.M. at the Northwest Film Forum.

It will be shown in its full 207 minute presentation on 16mm film. In addition to the film, Pepperman will be giving a Skype introduction before the film.

Pepperman is a film industry veteran with over 50 years of experience as an actor, editor and School of Visual Arts faculty member. An alum of the School of the Actor’s Company, Pepperman got his start in acting and joined the New York Poets Theatre Company in 1961. He then went on to film editing before being invited to join the faculty at the School of Visual Arts.

He has also taught at Film/Video Arts (an Independent Film and Video Cooperative), the New School University and Pratt Institute.

“Everything I Know About Filmmaking I Learned Watching Seven Samurai is my fifth book for Michael Wiese Productions,” Pepperman said.

between 1959 and 1961 and I’m much more impressed by the film now,” he said.

“One might think that after decades of experience you’d find more flaws, but I find the film to be one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the history of cinema.

Kurosawa skillfully and confidently breaks the proscenium view and allows the audience to move fully into the settings and action.”

Pepperman emphasized the importance of viewing the film in its full 207 minutes, the way it will be shown at the event. The original U.S. viewing in 1956 had been cut by 46 minutes.

“Michael Weise, the publisher, had a daughter whom at a very young age became fascinated with classic movies including the work of Kurosawa Kurosawa,” Ken Lee, vice president of Michael Wiese Productions said. “This was maybe five years ago. “Her father said everything you wanted to learn about film making you can learn from watching Kurosawa films.”

Lee then approached Pepperman about writing the book, a laborious process.

The content was all there; Pepperman just needed to find it, Lee said.

“I’ve come to realize as a writer that there is a process requiring time spent living with the work,” Pepperman said. “Eventually the structure of this book changed so that it runs runs along with the chronology of the

movie.”

“The book is laid out with a template of ‘Lesson Learned,’ ” he said. “As you watch the film and read the book, each and everyone of the chapters, based upon the Criterion Collection menu, contains anywhere from one to five or six paragraphs which tell immediately what it is that you can learn from that moment on the screen.”

Lee is excited about how the film screening event has come together.

“The Seattle Film Institute said ‘we love the idea,’ “ Lee said. “They said ‘we’re going to make the screening of the film the kick off of a new class in independent film.”

Pepperman has fond memories of his first time watching the film and of its legacy.

“I first saw ‘Seven Samurai’ sometime

Presented by Northwest Asian Weekly and Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation

Top Contributors

to the Asian community Making a difference Friday, Dec. 5, 2014 • 5:45 — 8:45 P.M. House of Hong Restaurant • 206-622-7997 • 409 8th Ave. S., Seattle

“The [shortened] film at best, I can guess, would actually feel longer,” he said. “Kurosawa had an understanding of structure, of pacing, that when broken – violated-- can very well make it feel that you’re sitting far longer than if you were watching the true version of the film.”

Pepperman hopes readers and viewers gains the fundamentals of filmmaking as well as a deeper understanding of what is happening on the screen.

“I think the audience is in for a genuine treat.”  Seven Samurai will screen at the Northwest Film Forum at 1515 12th Ave. Seattle on December 4 at 7:00p.m.

Ninette Cheng can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

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$75 before December 5. $80 after December 5. $85 walk-ins. $35 students with I.D. $40 student walk-ins. $700 for an individual table of 10. $900 for a corporate table of 10, with the corporate logo To purchase tickets, call us at 206-223-0623, or email rsvp@ nwasianweekly.com.

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32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ arts & entertainment

Lang Lang flunked piano ...but recreates Mozart

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

9

“Two Indias Near and Far”

Documentary series follows immigration trends

By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly As insane as it is to contemplate, Lang Lang flunked out of piano lessons at age 9. That’s right. The piano teacher thought he was useless. And the classical world would have been much different, had another piano teacher decided not to comfort him by playing a recording of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10. This inspired the Chinese piano sensation to keep going, and eventually, the music conservatory beckoned, and beyond that, the whole planet.

That piano sonata isn’t heard on the recently released “Mozart Album,” but the pianist cut two discs’ worth of the Viennese composer, working mostly alone on the second disc. He worked with conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Vienna Philharmonic on some of the rest.

The orchestral pieces compare and contrast Lang’s piano textures with the low reedy call of the bassoon, the push of the violin, and the eerie bird call of the oboe.

But they reinforce how intricately Mozart must be played on the piano and any other instruments, since force, attack, and dynamics (loudness) vary from one note to the next. The sections seem to sing to each other, concepts reflected in Mozart’s operas.

Lang has said that even though Mozart seems very easy to play on the page (adding that all young people play his music—by which, I assume, he means all young classical learners), it can take decades, the accumulation of a lifetime, to understand and execute his compositions. I find deep solace in what he can already do with the music, sometimes cascading, sometimes seemingly pushing back at the rotation of the compact disc itself. And I never thought I cared much for classical music, except some odd Bach, before this. Now I want to listen to almost nothing else.  Andrew Hamlin can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

KUOW reporter Liz Jones conducting an interview in a farmers market in Hyderabad, India

By Minal Singh Northwest Asian Weekly “Two Indias: Near and Far,” follows Liz Jones, a Seattle reporter, who traveled to India last summer to record footage for stories that are airing now until November 25. It is sponsored by the Washington Center for the Book. The six-part radio series is produced by KUOW 94.4 Seattle and launched on Nov. 18.

The series features the originating narratives of Seattle’s emerging immigrant community demographic..

Jones traveled to South India for three weeks on an international reporting fellowship to explore the local immigration trend. Endorsed by the International Center for Journalists and the Ford {see DOCUMENTARY SERIES cont’d on page 15}

asianweekly northwest

10

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

OPINION

Photos by Eugene Pike

■ commentary New billboards in Seattle proclaim devotion to Thai king

Billboards say “Long Live the King of Thailand”

By Eugene Pike For Northwest Asian Weekly For the first time ever, the Thai community in Seattle and surrounding areas are renting billboards near the Space Needle.

The billboard is at 505 Vine Street. The message is “Long Live the King of Thailand from Thai residents in Seattle.”

The billboard will be displayed until at least Dec 18.

December is a month of joy for Thai people around the

world. On the fifth of December, our beloved monarch, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, celebrated his 87th birthday. Dec 5 is also a day to celebrate Father’s Day in Thailand.

King Bhumibol was born in Massachusetts Dec. 5, 1927.

The reason that His Majesty was born in the United States is that his parents, Prince and Princess Mahidol of Songkhla were both studying there at the time. At his coronation, more than fifty years ago, this American-born, Swisseducated young man made a pledge to his people - “We

■ editorial Thank you, Seattle!

Here is a short list of organizations we are grateful for. The list is actually much longer, but here are two organizations we are thankful for this holiday.

First, thank you… Real Change.

You have most likely seen a Real Change vendor on a popular block in your neighborhood, waving the newspaper and sporting a badge (look for the credentials!).

What you most likely don’t know is what goes on behind the organization and how much it supports the homeless community and how readership contribution is an important factor that makes it run.

The paper empowers those who are homeless by offering classes/orientations that support career-building, marketing, and essentially a job that instills a sense of purpose.

Here is how the system works: After the vendor attends an orientation, they receive five free papers. The papers have a suggested donation of two dollars.

Vendors are then able to purchase more papers (if they wish), for 60 cents, so they receive a decent profit on every paper they sell.

Your two dollars get a good read (respected freelance journalists contribute gratis) and you contribute to helping the homeless and marginalized community.

And you also saved money by not buying an unhealthy snack or another coffee.

That is certainly worth two bucks, yes?

Thank you…Urban Rest Stop Another contribution to the community

is Urban Rest Stop (URS).

Imagine if you didn’t have access to a place to bathe, do your laundry, a place to rest.

URS provides that. Whether you are homeless, displaced, in transition, it is a valuable resource.

There are two locations in the Seattle area. One is close to the International District on at 1924 Ninth Ave. and the other is in the University District. The locations are open 5:30a.m to 9:30 p.m. and everyone is welcome. URS offers hot showers, haircuts, and a place to clean your clothes. Hopefully there will be another URS in Ballard soon (it’s in the works). The Ninth Avenue URS was recently allocated $200,000 in funding for maintenance. For more information you can visit http://www. urbanreststop.org.

Happy Thanksgiving Seattle! We hope everyone has a place to rest. 

will reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people.”

We want to show our appreciation to our beloved King and his work for the past 60+ years. In every home or Thai restaurant around Seattle, you will find a picture of King Bhumibol hanging in a place of honor. Now you will see it on a billboard by the Space Needle.  Eugene Pike is a member of the group ”Seattle loves the King of Thailand”

32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ national news

11

The Lee Family in America

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), located in New York City’s Chinatown, is holding a unique exhibit of the distinguished Lee family, and chronicles the family’s experiences in America over a period from the late 1860s to the present.

The first of the Lees to come to the United States was Lee Ling, who came from the Sun Ning District of Taishan in Guangdong Province of China. He arrived in San Francisco in the late 1860s, probably with some relatives who helped build the Pacific section of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Lee Ling, however, remained in San Francisco where he started a business selling Chinese herbs and merchandise.

He was later joined by his wife, Chin Shee, and two sons who had been born in China. A third son was born in San Francisco.

The MOCA exhibit includes a genealogical document of the family tree that extends back to the 12th Century during the Soong Dynasty. It was compiled by Lee On, the son who was born in San Francisco in 1874. Lee On thus became a U.S. citizen through birth, the first in the family line. When he was nine years old Lee On was taken by his parents back to their native village in China where he lived until he married at age eighteen. Lee On then returned to America, leaving a wife and son behind in China until he could become established in America. He settled in New York where he joined his two older brothers, who had remained in the States after the parents returned to China, to start a Chinese grocery in New York’s Chinatown.

Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 no Chinese could own real estate and so the brothers rented the building for their grocery from an Italian landlord.

They did not actually purchase the building until 1960, even though members of the Lee family had lived and worked in that building for more than seventy years.

In 1904 Lee On’s son, then eleven years old, came from China to work in the family’s grocery store. He took an

{PACQUIAO cont’d from page 5} “The fact it’s on Sunday is a little inconvenient. The fact it’s on in the morning doesn’t seem to matter,” said Ed Tracy, president and CEO of the Venetian.

“Most of them have been up all night anyway.”

On the state sanctioned CCTV network, a staggering 300 million people are expected to tune in to a broadcast that, unlike in the U.S., will be free of charge.

If boxing isn’t exactly exploding in China, there’s little doubt it’s beginning to find its own niche. Pacquiao and Algieri are being counted on to fill hotel rooms this weekend and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue from visitors who are as eager to spend money in the resort’s lavish shopping mall as they are in the crowded casinos.

It’s welcome money at a time Macau’s gaming revenues are in a five-month slump that casino executives attribute to a government crackdown on corruption and conspicuous consumption among the wealthy.

Macau may not be Las Vegas, but the concept is the same. Just like the casinos here began as copies of Vegas resorts, the fights follow the same pattern of appealing to sports fans with deep pockets who enjoy a wager or two.

And Chinese fans are not only learning when to cheer, but how long to stay.

“They’re beginning to know boxing,” Arum said. “It’s a relatively easy sport to understand, which is part of its beauty. But it’s really a universal thing. The Chinese people are becoming boxing fans.”

Zou is the biggest reason for that. He won Olympic gold medals in 2008 at home in Beijing and in 2012 in London,

Photos courtesy Museum of Chinese in America

By Foster Stockwell

The Lee Family

Harold and clients at teller window at 31 Pell Street

American name, Harold, and applied himself to getting a good education. His abilities resulted in his being accepted as a student at the prestigious boy’s preparatory school, Mount Herman in Massachusetts. But he had to withdraw after just one semester because of a serious respiratory illness.

Meanwhile the grocery store added Chinese merchandise to its inventory. The brothers would later expand the enterprise to sell artwork, ceramics, and silks. Lee On himself, because he was an American citizen, was able to periodically go to China to acquire goods for sale in the store.

However, on one occasion in 1899 when as he returned to New York by way of Canada, he was arrested and held for a month and a half by immigration officials in Richland, Vermont. They intensively questioned his citizenship and merchant status. Only after his father, Lee Ling, arrived with his birth records and identity cards was Lee On released and allowed to enter the States and return to New York.

As Harold Lee grew to manhood he proved to be most enterprising. He opened a foreign exchange office to remit currency to and from China, as well as a Chinese film exchange to import Chinese films. Another member of the Lee family opened a highly-successful travel agency, while still another opened the Tai Lung Curio Shop in the space formerly housing the grocery store.

One of the Lees has become a well-known movie production designer, another is a movie and television executive, and still another was awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery during World War II. In 2013 the Lee family was able to celebrate 125 years of successful business in New York’s Chinatown, with all their various enterprises still centered at the original New York address, 31 Pell Street.  Reprinted courtesy of Chinese American Forum (http:// caforumonline.org). Foster Stockwell can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

becoming a national hero in the process three of his last five fights in Macau when he and introducing the sport to millions of made the deal with Arum.

Chinese more accustomed to martial arts The lights of the Las Vegas Strip still contests. shine brightly when it comes to the biggest Still, when Arum was first presented events. Pacquiao’s fight here last year against with the idea of paying big money to a Rios was a pay-per-view disappointment 112-pounder making his pro debut, he in the U.S., partly because Rios was not had to think twice about it. With a chance considered a credible opponent by many in to enter the potentially lucrative Chinese boxing and partly because few bought in on market, he ponied up $300,000 for Zou to paying money for it because of the mystique fight in a four-rounder.

Zou has fought all five of his pro fights at the Venetian, and reportedly has drawn the attention of Chinese president Xi Jimping.

Should Zou win as expected on Sunday, the plan is to have him fight Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng for a title as a headliner Feb. 14 in the same arena.

“You can look for a very, very different event then that is going to be very Asian centric,” Tracy said. “It’s a hell of an opportunity for us to put on a very good show.” 自1872年起服務西北岸社區 Zou isn’t the only home-grown 非營利獨立協會 fighter on Sunday’s card. Rex Tso from neighboring Hong Kong is 14-0 as a super flyweight, while 154-pounder Kuok Kun Ng is a Macau native. The Chinese boxing roster isn’t exactly deep, but it’s growing relatively fast.

Pacquiao also seems quite at home here, where he doesn’t have to battle the effects of jet lag to Las Vegas. His 350-member entourage managed to cram on two planes Monday for a short flight from the Philippines to watch their own national hero, who is guaranteed more than $20 •陵墓地下室 •骨灰靈位 million and won’t have to pay millions in •墓碑、紀念碑 •土葬福地 taxes that would come due from a fight in the U.S. That doesn’t mean Macau will get the biggest fights. It won’t, even if they involve 1554 15th Ave East (North Capitol Hill) Pacquiao, who Tracy envisioned fighting

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of a fight coming from China.

There’s increased talk about Pacquiao finally fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year in what could be boxing’s richest bout ever. But no matter who he fights, his next bout will not be in Macau.

“Manny’s next fight will be in the states,” Arum said. “To be relevant in the states you want him to train in California for at least one fight a year.” 

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asianweekly northwest

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

■ world news

Panel predicts China will keep confronting US

By Matthew Pennington Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tensions between the U.S. and China have deepened during the rule of China’s president, Xi Jinping, and the risk of an inadvertent military clash in the Asia-Pacific is growing, a congressional advisory panel said Thursday.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission criticizes “unsafe, unprofessional and aggressive” behavior

by Chinese military personnel in the past year as the rising power has intimidated its neighbors and challenged decades of

Xi Jinping

Dennis Shea

American pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific.

The commission’s annual report was drafted before President Barack Obama visited Beijing last week and agreed with Xi to improve military cooperation to help

reduce the risk of a confrontation. Obama’s trip also yielded a breakthrough deal with Xi on combating climate change, seen as sign that despite their strategic rivalry and differences over human rights, the two governments can cooperate.

But since Xi came to power two years ago, the panel notes U.S.-China relations have been increasingly strained by China’s territorial ambitions in the East and South China Sea, where it has disputes with nations including U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.

“It is becoming clear that President Xi’s government is willing to cause a much

higher level of tension in the bilateral relationship than past administrations have. Unfortunately, China’s pursuit of a more confrontational relationship with the United States likely will persist,” the commission says.

Commission Chairman Dennis Shea said that conclusion still held, despite Obama’s upbeat visit to Beijing.

Shea said the trip improved the atmospherics between the U.S. and China, but fundamental problems remain. He cited continuing Chinese state-sponsored {see CHINA-US cont’d on page 14}

NKorean escapes Scholar and journalist kidnap attempt in Paris tried in closed hearings

By Elaine Ganley Associated Press

It wasn’t immediately clear if French authorities had played a role in the escape, how many PARIS (AP) — A North kidnappers were involved, or Korean student with family where they are now. ties to the regime in his country Han is reportedly the son of escaped a kidnapping bid in an aide of the once powerful Paris, where he was studying, uncle of North Korean leader and is now in hiding, a French Kim Jong Un. The uncle, Jang source with knowledge of the Jang Song Thaek Song Thaek, was considered case said Saturday. the country’s second most The architecture student, powerful man before he was identified only as Han, avoided the executed in December on treason charges. kidnapping attempt at a Paris airport where South Korea’s spy agency believes North he was to be put on a plane for Pyongyang, Korea also used a firing squad to execute North Korea’s capital, said the source, who several people close to the uncle, South spoke on condition of anonymity because Korean lawmaker Shin Kyung-min said the person was not authorized to speak in October after attending a closed-door publicly on the sensitive matter. agency briefing.

The failed bid to capture Han occurred Han has been attending L’Ecole in the first week of November, and he has been in hiding since then, the source said. {see KIDNAP cont’d on page 15}

TAITUNG

By Erica Kinetz Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Closeddoor court hearings of a prominent journalist and a noted minority scholar held on Friday were sharply criticized for violating due process and chilling Gao Yu freedom of expression as Chinese authorities tighten oversight of public speech.

Journalist Gao Yu, 70, denied that she had leaked state secrets on the first day of her trial, her lawyer said. Police and plainclothes agents blocked journalists from accessing the Beijing No. 3 People’s Intermediate Court. She faces a maximum penalty of death, lawyer Mo Shaoping said.

Across the country, in the tumultuous Xinjiang region, a sealed jailhouse court

upheld the separatism conviction and life sentence for Ilham Tohti, a noted scholar from China’s Muslim Uighur minority who frequently criticized the government while advocating ethnic pride and greater economic opportunity.

Both proceedings highlight tensions between China’s vision of rule of law, a top priority of President Xi Jinping, and Western notions of judicial fairness.

“The Chinese judicial authority handed down the verdict in accordance with the facts and law. China’s judicial sovereignty must not be questioned,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at his daily news {see YU cont’d on page 15}

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32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ astrology

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

13

For the week of November 29–December 5, 2014

By Sun Lee Chang

Rat — Have you stored something away only to forget where you put it later? If so, it may be time to weed through what you have in storage.

Ox — What you thought was a treat might actually be just the opposite. Consider carefully what you agree to take on.

Tiger — That which you take for granted today could be highly prized tomorrow. Don’t wait until it is gone before you realize its true value.

Rabbit — There are several people who will be vying for your attention this week. Only make yourself available if you really want to talk with them.

Dragon — Despite your urge to charge ahead, this could be one of those instances where it is worthwhile to wait for the group to catch up, so you can move forward together.

Snake — There are many people who are in your corner. Rather than pushing them away, give them a chance to show you how much they care.

Horse — You have never had a shortage of ambition.

While getting ahead is important, you want to do so in the right situation.

Goat — Is your imagination running wild today? It can be fun to dream once in a while, so let it run freely, at least for a little while.

Monkey — Looking for the perfect fit can be a frustrating exercise. Depending on what it is, there may be room to compromise.

Rooster — Are you having a hard time getting a handle on a large issue? Cut it down to size by creating an outline and chipping away at the individual elements.

Dog — Do you want something different from what everyone else has? Dare to step outside the box for what you desire.

Pig — A chance to prove your talents doesn’t come along every day. This is definitely the time to put your best foot forward.

What’s your animal sign?

Rat 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 Ox 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 Tiger 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 Rabbit 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 Dragon 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 Snake 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 Horse 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 Goat 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 Monkey 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 Rooster 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 Dog 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 Pig 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

{DARDEN cont’d from page 6} platform at the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street station in the Bronx on Sunday when a man pushed him from behind. Kwok, 61, was struck by an approaching D train and died at the scene. His wife wasn’t injured.

There was no indication that Kwok knew the man or had had any interaction with him before he was pushed, police said. His wife said she did not recognize the man.

The train’s motorman, James Muriel, told CBS New York that he hit the brakes while the victim was still airborne, but it was no use. “We could feel the bumps underneath the train,” he said.

Muriel said he was crying as he went to check on the victim and needed help getting out of his cab because his legs were numb.

“The victim’s wife, she threw herself on me and she began to cry hysterically,” Muriel told NBC New York. “Everybody just began to cry. ... Women, grown men, just everybody.”

The man fled the station and two minutes later hopped on a bus with other people who had been on the platform at the time of the push and unknowingly discussed it while he was nearby, police said.

Surveillance footage shows the man walking calmly from the subway station. Later footage shows him getting off a bus 10 blocks away, heading into a convenience store and then emerging smoking a cigarette.

The victim’s wife was taken to a hospital for observation. Relatives told authorities Kwok worked for a kitchen supply company and the couple was planning to have breakfast and do grocery shopping in Chinatown on Sunday.

There were at least two other cases in recent years that involved a person being fatally pushed onto subway tracks.

In December 2012, a homeless man was arrested after a man was pushed in front of a Times Square train that crushed him. A photographer on the

platform snapped a series of photos of the man as he was about to be struck, prompting criticism that he instead should have tried to help him.

Later that month, a mumbling woman pushed a man to his death in front of a subway train in Queens.

For Muriel, the motorman, the death was a nightmarish rewind. He previously was driving a train that hit a suicidal man.

“The last time I went through this, I looked at the gentleman’s face,” said Muriel. “When I’m at the movie theater, when I’m food shopping, when I’m at the mall, I always see somebody that looks like the last victim.”

About 5 million people ride the subway every day in New York City. Every year, about 140 people are hit by city subway trains, many of them in accidental knocks and willful leaps. Fifty people have been killed by subway trains this year, and 55 died last year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. 

asianweekly northwest

14

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

{CHINA-US cont’d from page 12} cyberespionage; an increasingly hostile environment for U.S. business in China; and Chinese military modernization aimed at least in part at countering the U.S. military in the Pacific.

The commission advises Congress on the national security implications of the relationship between the two world powers. It doesn’t set policy, and Beijing is typically

very critical of its findings.

The report says the potential for “security miscalculation” in the region is rising, and that as China increases its military spending by double-digit percentages year after year, the balance of power is drifting away from the U.S. and its allies.

It notes that by 2020, China could have as many as 351 submarines and missile-equipped surface ships in the AsiaPacific. The U.S. Navy, by comparison, plans to have 67 submarines and surface ships stationed or deployed to the

region, the report says.

The commission cites several publicized incidents in which it says Chinese military aircraft and vessels have engaged in risky behavior with Japanese and U.S. forces, which it says could have resulted in the loss of life or a major political crisis. It cited an incident in August when an armed Chinese J-11 fighter jet passed within 20 feet to 45 feet of a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane. 

{VISAS cont’d from page 5}

{THAI TOURISTS cont’d from page 5}

U.S., contributing about $21 billion to the economy.

According to government figures, Chinese visitors spend about $7,000 per person in the U.S., compared with the average of $4,500 for all overseas visitors. In announcing the visa change, the White House said it could result in $85 billion economic impact in the U.S. by 2021.

In New York City, Chinese visitors have increased more than 300 percent over the past five years, with 646,000 in 2013 and 743,000 expected by year’s end. Las Vegas gets an estimated 300,000 Chinese visitors annually, and officials hope to see that number increase to more than 1 million by 2021. 

affinities, Jessada said. From a young age, Thais are taught the concept of “marayat” — or “good manners” — and values like humility and respect for elders, which are similar in Japan. But the same rules don’t always apply.

His list offers advice on mobile phone use in buses and trains (‘‘turn the ringer to silent”) and shopping: “Do not interrupt salespeople who are helping other customers.”

In Thailand, drivers often ignore crosswalks and zoom past pedestrians trying to cross. But in Japan, “Drivers must stop at zebra crossings, and wait for people to cross the road, without honking the horn.”

Thais tend to eat family-style, sharing dishes often without serving spoons. In Japan: “Do not use your chopsticks to pick up food for other people.”

Associated Press writers Ian Mader and Yu Bing in Beijing, and Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Rather than take offense, Thais have applauded the list. The Facebook post has been shared and liked more than 1,300 times since it was posted last week.

Commentators on Thai blogs have expressed admiration for Japanese customs, suggesting that if Thais adopted similar manners at home the country would be seen as more “developed.”

More than 450,000 Thais visited Japan last year, the sixth-largest nationality after South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States, according to Japan’s National Tourism Organization. Thai visitors are forecast to increase this year due to Japan lifting visa requirements for Thais, the weaker yen and an increase in cheaper flights on low-cost airlines.  Associated Press Writer Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report.

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32 YEARS YOUR VOICE {KIDNAP cont’d from page 12} Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Paris at La Villette, in eastern Paris. He was presumably among about 10 North Korean architecture students who came to France in 2012 in a second wave of a student exchange.

France and Estonia are the only two European countries that have not established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

However, France and North Korea have opened offices of cooperation in each other’s countries to deal mainly with cultural and humanitarian issues, and France accepts a limited number of North Korean students and interns. 

Internship at Northwest Asian Weekly If you are interested in exploring our vibrant Asian American community in Seattle and would like to gain experience working with an established community newspaper, contact us at editor@ nwasianweekly.com.

{YU cont’d from page 12} briefing in response to a question about Ilham Tohti’s appeal.

To human rights groups, the trials are part of the Communist Party’s redoubled efforts to consolidate control, cracking down on dissidents, corruption and free speech, as China embarks on a difficult path of economic transformation and confronts new challenges in governing an increasingly well-informed and sometimes restive population.

“These cases fly in the face of China’s written commitment to improve the rule of law in China,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. “This is because there is a misunderstanding of what these reforms really entail. They were never intended to improve the rights of the defense in politically sensitive cases or cases in which there was overwhelming evidence of guilt. What the government wants is for the police not to torture innocent people. Torturing guilty people they have no problem with.”

Activists fear authorities are using state secrets charges to silence critics like Gao, who also is one of the best-known intellectuals to have been imprisoned for supporting the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. She was detained in April on charges of illegally obtaining a Communist Party document and providing it to an overseas website for publication, according to previous official reports.

State media did not identify the document, but it appeared to refer to a strategy paper — known as Document No. 9 — that reportedly argued for aggressive curbs on the spread of Western democracy, universal values, civil society, freedom of the press and other ideological concepts the party believed threatened its legitimacy.

The life sentence against Ilham Tohti, delivered in September after a closed-door trial in the regional capital of Urumqi, was China’s most severe in a decade for illegal political speech. It drew condemnation from the U.S. and the European Union.

His lawyers said the Xinjiang High Court’s rejection of the scholar’s

{DOCUMENTARY SERIES cont’d from page 9} Foundation, this collaboration between Jones and series editor, Carol Smith, produces video narratives of Indian immigrants reporting their struggles framed by the home they left behind in terms of the home they have found.

The series episodes include: “Hyderabad, India: Seattle’s tech sister of the East,” “The repatriates: A new generation returns to India,” “Visas put careers on hold for tech wives,” “Who will care for the parents of expat Indians?, “What it was like to be Redmond’s

NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014

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appeal was delivered at a hearing inside the Urumqi detention center, in violation of judicial procedure. The hearing was set at such short notice neither lawyer was able to attend.

Ilham Tohti’s supporters portray him as a moderate intent on mediating ethnic conflict. Tensions between Xinjiang’s roughly 10 million mostly Muslim Uighurs and China’s majority Han Chinese have left about 400 people dead in the past 20 months.

Beijing maintains the violence is fueled by terrorists and Islamist insurgents trained outside China. Human rights groups say it is a response to a lack of economic opportunity and harsh repression of Uighurs, including indiscriminate arrests, torture and suppression of ethnic and religious identity.

Ilham Tohti’s wife, Guzelnur Ali, was unaware of the verdict Friday until a reporter handed her his mobile phone with a message from the lawyers.

“The verdict is not fair,” she said, looking up. “All he wanted is to be a professor at a university. He never had any intention of splitting the country as they say he did.”

The government seized 850,000 yuan ($139,000) of the family’s savings, complicating Guzelnur Ali’s efforts to raise her two sons in the small, spotless apartment given to her husband by the university where he taught for 23 years. Losing her home is not something she wants to consider.

“This is China. I think there are laws,” she said, adding: “What would I do if they kick me out?”

Her boys, aged 4 and 8, wrestled each other in a heap of giggles on the floor. “The younger one doesn’t know exactly what happened, but the elder one does,” she said. “The younger doesn’t know where his father is, nor what the situation is.”

Do they ask you about it very often?

“Very often,” she said. “And every time they ask, I lie to them.”  Associated Press reporter Aritz Parra contributed reporting.

first Indian family,” and “Why did KUOW send a reporter to Hyderabad, India?”

Immigration and emerging communities are Jones’ expertise. She looks for “shifts in demographics, how things are growing or changing.” After working in Bellingham, she noted a lot of Punjabi farmers working in the Eastside when she was reporting on a story about Latino farmers. According to census reports, Washington is the 2nd of all states with the highest growth of Asian-Indians, states Jones, who conducted this research as inquiry of why and how this trend is occurring.

Attributing to this growth is the tech boom and Redmond’s software industry. Jones’ interest in immigration is at the heart of current U.S. affairs since Obama’s recent Address to the Nation on Immigration.  Those interested in contributing to the discussion of Seattle immigration can post a message to the KUOW facebook page, or listen to narratives by visiting http://kuow. org/topic/two-indias-near-and-far.

Minal Singh can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

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NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 5, 2014