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ISSUENO. 74 APRIL_ JUNE1999 China Council k Quarter$ A,a'-J*L 6; 14 th /A' NORTHWESTCHINACOUNCTL102 NW4TH AVENUE, PORTLAND, OR 97209 (503)973-5451 Partof theNinth Annual Flying Horse Auction & FeastTeam INSIDE: Fromthe Executive Director............ pg.1 EventsCalendar.... .......pg.6 ChinaCouncil News ........................ pg.1 BookReview ................................... pg.7 April-June Program News .,..........p9.3 ChinaCouncil Program Review ...... pg.8 LanguageClasses .......pg.S BullitenBoard ...............pg.10 CulturalConnections ....p9.5 NewYear's Party Photos ................ pg.11 thinka centerwas a goodidea, and there certainlyare plenty of emptybuildings in the I haverecently completed my firstyear on the neighborhoodthat could be madeuseful again. job as executivedirector of the council.lt has beenan interestingtime, perhaps too interesting. Althoughsuch a communitycenter may be a long But I can nowsay that I havehad a prettywell- way downthe road(or at the otherend of the roundedcrash course on officemoves, writing rapids),the feasibility of sucha center-a placeto appealletters, producing programs, and learnabout and celebrate Chinese cultur+-is a survivinga fundraisingauction. The experience projectworth imagining and eventually realizing. hasbeen similar to runninga seriesof rapids, someof themvery tricky, with too few calm Infact, the imaginarypart is nowundenvay. A stretchesseparating the white water. Things Portland-based U n iversity of Oregonarch itectu re haveto be lessexciting this year, except for the classis workingon a termproject to comeup programsand services we arecommitted to witha ChinatownCommunity Center plan. The offeringyou. classis beingconducted by SuennHo, an architecturaldesigner and China Council member Getting'Settled who hasalso been active on thedevelopment planteam. Sinceleaving Portland State University, the focusin thiscolumn has primarily been on I'mexcited. lf youwould like to knowmore about transitionissues: where do we go andhow do theplan, or havesome ideas to share,please we getthere, after our stay under the PSU giveme a callor senda E-mailto meat umbrella. [email protected]. I will be attending the nextmeeting-a development plan Whenwe beganthe search for a newhome, our presentation-onApril 16, and would certainly like initialgoalwas simply to finda workablespace in to knowwhat ideas you have regarding the Chinatown.Now we arethinking about communitycenter idea. improvingour visibility with new signage and -Rosario lighting,and are also looking at somelong-term Aglialoro prospects.We likeit in Chinatown,and know thatestablishing ourselves here means getting involved. June 4th-Ten YearsLater One pleasantway to do that is to takea neighborout for a bowlof noodles.Another is to June4th, 1999 is the 1Othanniversary of the go to a meeting.Since December, there has TiananmenCrackdown. Former June 4th student beena seriesof workshopsand meetings leadersare gearingup to commemoratethe relatedto the Old Town/ChinatownDevelopment event.Wang Dan is inTaiwan promoting a mass Plan,an ambitiousproject to re-developthis signaturecampaign. He wantsto senda letterto area.The last meeting, held March 16 at the the Chineseleadership , with a millionsignatures ChineseConsolidated Benevolent Association attached,demanding that they reassess their on DavisStreet, provided a basicoverview of the standon June4; WuerKaxi, also in Taiwan,has currentplan, and allowed participants to provide launched2 siteson theinternet:www.6-4.org and commentsand suggestions for incorporationinto www.iune4.oro:there are undoubtedly many theplan. morepeople at workorganizing commemorative events,etc. AmnestyInternational has a "June Oneaspect of the developmentscheme 4thAnniversary Action Kit," available by considersestablishing a cultural center in the contacting<www. am nesty.org/cam paig ns/ Chinatownarea. Suggestions from workshop chinagg>.One wonders what is beingplanned in participantsfor whatthe center might be like HongKong SAR, and how Be'tjing willdealwith it. werepretty diverse, though everyone seemed to In Be'rjing,former leading Central Committee Jenkins,head curator at themuseum and a great member,Bao Tong, jailed from 1989-1996 for friendof theChina Council. Donald's help was opposingthe use of forceagainst Tiananmen indispensablein helping us arrange to havethe protestors,has written a letterurging the eventat sucha fine,fine place, where things governmentto reassessthe 1989demonstrations lookedand felt good. and"end the cover up." lt was verypleasant viewing a broadarray of Alsoin Beijing:TiananmenSquare has been veryinteresting SilentAuction items in the Parlor fencedoff and closed to the public,purportedly for Roomoff the Grand Ballroom, and exciting to renovations,so thatthis national symbol will be enterthe ballroom decorated with Willow Zheng's lookinggood for the coming 50th Anniversary lovelymurals. The Dragonmaker Puppeteers, Liberationceremonies. Of course,there may be whomoved about the ballroom, parlor, and lobby otherreasons for the closure priorto dinnerand the Live Auction, added a colorfuland festive touch to theevent, as didthe Theabove developments have a minorbilling at HotShot Tap Dancers and CentralAsian dancer, themoment, with Premier Zhu Rong Ji's visit to Far'ha.They both performed during the Live Washington,D.C. and other U.S. cities. But the Auction. Tiananmenanniversary does seem like an appropriatetime to considerwhat has elapsed Theauctioneer, Steve Andersen, who donated betweenthe U.S. and China since 1989. histalent and time, did a greatjob undervery stressfulcircumstances: the sound system for TheChina Council plans to do thisby organizinga theevent ("Tony & Tina'sWedding") happening forumthat provides an opportunityfor China simultaneouslyinthe museum's Sunken Councilmembers and others to consider Ballroom,was on thesame frequency as Steve's U.S.-Chinarelations since Tianar'rmen. We are remotemicrophone system. This resulted in lookingfor an appropriateplace to do this. The someinsurmountable technical problems. targetdate is Thursdayevening, June 3. Nevertheless,the LiveAuction did well, thanks to loyalChina Council supporters and our A flyerwill be sentto memberswith forum details a wonderfullyvibrant hosts from KGW-Northwest few weeksbefore the event. Betweennow and NewsChannel 8, JanelleWang and Tina Kim. then,we wouldcertainly appreciate your ideas and assistanceto makethis a worthwhileevent. Theevening had a poignantside to it aswell. Therecipient of thisyear's Flying Horse Award wasStan Chen, long-time China Council supporterand reporter for The Oregonian, who diedon February4th. China Council president On February27,1999 the Northwest China SteveKanter made a movingtribute to Stan, Councilwelcomed the Year of the Rabbitwith its notingthat we weregathered to celebrateStan's NinthAuction and Feast. This year the partywas life,one rich in achievementsand with caring for at the PortlandArt Museumin the GrandBallroom others.A bronzereplica of thefamous Han andeveryone (well, almost everyone) declared it a DynastyFlying Horse of Gansuwas presented to greatsuccess. More than 450 people joined the Stan'swife, Beth Erickson, who is alsoa party.There was very lively bidding in the Silent journalistwith The Orilgonian. Many of Stan's Auction,haggling at the"bargain table" with Willow friendsfrom The Oregonian and The Asian Zheng,fortune telling with Dr. Sam Won, and AmericanJournalist Association (AAJA) were wonderfulChinese calligraphy created by Mr.Zifen thereto honorStan, including Oregonian editor Qian.Altogether, it was a verysuccessful evening SandraRowe, and AAJA president Catalina forfund raising and for partying. Camia.We are already thinking about next year'sTenth Annual Year of the DragonAuction, Aboutthis year's venue, the consensus is thatthe at leastthe when of it. So markyour calendar for PortlandArt Museumis a fineplace to holdthe February19, 2000 and anticipate a greattime. event.A specialnote of thanksis dueto Donald 2 PaulMillius RobertMoon Coordinatinga major event with limited funds Marisand Mary Mullaley is verychallenging and, at times,downright JaneOdson frustrating.The solution to seeingthings FrancesPerson throughis, as always,connected to great KarianaPeters volunteers.Quite a few of the folkson the list ZifenQian and Li Dai belowfor this year's auction, are people who SerenaRoss and Batu Bisuut said,"never again" last year. But there they GaelleSnell Sayler wereagain, thank goodness. As experienced Wendyand Tony Tanada volunteers,they are indispensableresources Taoof Tea andthe keyto our beingable to do muchof GeneTom whatwe do. Combinethese "grizzled vets" EdVidinghoff withthat other essential ingredient- ShawnWall enthusiasticnewcomers-and good things JoanneWakeland happen.To all of you-many,many thanks. JanelleWang Withoutyou, things simply don't happen. Shu-juWang Aminaand Chris Weiland MarciaWeinstein SamWon AntoniaAglialoro TobyWong SteveAndersen WillowZheng SarahAuker BobBrian Many,Many Thanksl MaryLu Burink Sabinede CarbonneldeCanisy RubyChen ReubenChong RebeccaConant (Far'ha) By the timethis quarterly reaches you, one of RickCook ourAprilprograms will have already NickiDoler happened-JacquelineNewman's Tea NancyDollahite Caravanspresentation. We hopeyou received BethErickson the advanced-noticecard we sentto members. HolleyGilbert-Corum EricHaan OnApril 22,MelGurtov, a PSUpolitical GloriaHiatt scienceprofessor who has graciously TrinaHing contributedhis time and energy to keepingus MikeHoffman informedon China'spolitical