{"article":{"id":219348,"heading":"Lee Siu Hin Journey to My Home: China and Hong Kong 2008 (Part One)","author":"Lee Siu Hin - Immigrant Solidarity Network","created":"2008-08-09 07:51:17","modified":"2013-11-11 00:54:02","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:54:02","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>Journey to My Home: China and Hong  Kong 2008<br>\r\n    <strong>A Long Waited Trip to  My Heartland<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Lee Siu Hin<\/strong><br>\r\n    <strong>Beijing, China<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Part One:  Introduction <\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p><em>(Aug 7th at Tianmen Square)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>This is the beginning of my journey.<\/p>\r\n<p>Since I left my home, I had been long waiting for this trip  for many years, to visit my birth place&mdash;Hong Kong and China&mdash;a long three months  trip (June to August)--to visit my family &amp; friends; as well as political  and international solidarity trip to build bi-national U.S.-China solidarity; I  also spend quality time meetings with different Chinese IT companies&nbsp;&amp;  universities to build potential partnerships with to support our webpage design  program, and to visit Beijing Olympic games.<\/p>\r\n<p>Because of my U.S.  immigration status--the flawed even racist U.S.  policies stand against me and millions of others immigrants in this country, I  cannot leave U.S.  for too many years. <\/p>\r\n<p>My 20 years of life and activism in the United States  had been both hope-disappointment, more hope comes with more disappointment. As  a one-time undocumented sweatshop\/low-wage worker and labor activists, my life in  the U.S. has been difficult and unfair to me&mdash;especially after the September 11  and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, peace and justice movements had been suffered  major setback: anti-war votes got pro-war Congress, pro-immigrant movements  created anti-immigrant policies, labor campaigns that never gave any befits for  the workers, and even working with right wing forces to launch racist campaigns  against China, Venezuela (and other countries that U.S. don&rsquo;t like), I truly concerns  the U.S. activist movements at its cross road&mdash;it forced me need to go outside  the box to think&hellip;.<\/p>\r\n<p>Therefore, I decided to spend my entire summer in China to  meet, see and discuss with many people across the country, to understand China  better, and to help me to tell with other people the true China, and the  opportunity what we can lean from China for the U.S. activist movements.<\/p>\r\n<p>The 2008 for China  had been prides and challenges. <\/p>\r\n<p>Pride is the upcoming Beijing Olympics, Most Chinese agrees China  at its best period of time since 1842 British-led Opium War following with 100  years of western imperialist oppressions, invasions and colonization until the  People&rsquo;s Republic funded in 1949. The enormous prides helped millions of  Chinese to volunteered to support the Beijing Olympics. Around the city, Beijing currently has 1.5  million students and citizen volunteers supporting the Olympics (I know several  friends of mime are Olympic volunteers). In addition tens of millions of people  from across the country had mobilized to witness the 100-days Olympic flame  relay in China  (just yesterday, over three hundred thousand people across the street to see  the relay). <\/p>\r\n<p>2008 also has been the   year of major challenges for China, because we had faced major crisis  includes the snow storm of January, and the May 12th Wenchuan earthquake earthquake&mdash; the largest  earthquake in China nearly 80 years that devastated millions of people and killed  tens of thousands&mdash;in addition, the Tibet riots in March, that backed by western  powers to against China&mdash;however, unlike many westerners thought it&rsquo;ll destroy  the sprit of Chinese with facing New Orleans post-Katrina-style humanitarian  disaster, the powerful surge of nationalism after Tibet riot in March and the  May 12th earthquake quickly unify China and Chinese communities  across the World, and quickly mobilize themselves for disaster relief to  support each others, and grassroots movements support motherland and against  western powers meddling China.<\/p>\r\n<p>Almost every ordinary Chinese friends of mime had told me  they&rsquo;re angry about the western media bias against China,  notably U.S.&rsquo;s CNN, NY Times, U.K.&rsquo;s BBC, Germany&rsquo;s Spiegel (and many other  western media). When I read their news from the Internet, I am shocked the  level of bias and lies they are telling. I am living at an apartment not very  far from the so-called Beijing&rsquo;s  diplomatic district; I can fair to say they&rsquo;re just few miles away from where  they east, sleep, work everyday, and I never saw most of what they said. One  good example, the so-called pollution in Beijing,  is a bias report, I feel the air quality in Beijing  mostly good, and better then Los    Angeles. Since I am I am China, the allergy and skin  rash caused by pollutions in Los Angles completely gone (it&rsquo;s miracle, and even  how much I fear the worse water and air quality in the U.S. major cities). I  see cloud and the fog in the city almost every day&mdash;but it&rsquo;s not the smog  pollution (few days ago, when four U.S. athletes wear U.S.-issued dusk-masks  arriving to Beijing airport, they immediately angered the Chinese public and U.S.  athletes quickly realized the mask is unnecessary and quickly made apologies to  the Chinese publics and the Olympic Committee.<\/p>\r\n<p>Most Chinese believes traditional western imperialist countries,  such as U.S., U.K., France and Germany, had increase their rhetoric against  China at the eve of Olympic games, it's my important mission for me as Chinese,  as well as international solidarity to show the true picture of my country. <\/p>\r\n<p>If you want to understand spirit of Chinese, you need to  understand these two very important and powerful words circulated after the May  12th earthquake:<\/p>\r\n<p>&ldquo;(We have) many people with strong will, (we will) fight  against earthquake disaster and organize relief.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n<p>&ldquo;(We have) many (natural) disasters, (but we&rsquo;ll able to  build) better country (future).&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n<p>These few short words had shown the heart and minds of China and the  Chinese nationalism. It&rsquo;s simply a propaganda words&mdash;but a reflections of one of  the key elements of cultural-social-political history of our country, that we  frequently facing floods, earthquakes, wars, droughts and diseases&mdash;instead to  accept this is god&rsquo;s giving destiny to us, we need to fight against our fate for  our own survival and to better a better future&hellip;. <\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>My trip in China  has been generously supported by my parents, my friends and many other people. I  am currently at staying at a house borrowed by one of our family friend at Beijing. <\/p>\r\n<p>I coming here as an ordinary citizen&rsquo;s trip, a trip that  hopes will be worth my life.<\/p>\r\n<p>Very soon, it&rsquo;ll be the Beijing Olympics, more reports from  my trip across the country will be coming soon&hellip;<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Lee Siu Hin<br>\r\n  National Coordinator<br>\r\n  National Immigrant Solidarity Network http:\/\/www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org<br>\r\n  ActionLA Coalition http:\/\/www.ActionLA.org<br>\r\n  Peace NO War Network http:\/\/www.PeaceNOWar.net<\/p>\r\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"siuhin@aol.com","link":"http:\/\/www.immigrantsolidarity.org\/China2008\/","address":"Los Angeles, CA USA","phone":"(213)403-0131","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Journey to My Home: China and Hong Kong 2008\r\nA Long Waited Trip to My Heartland","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2008\/08\/219348.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}