chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (02/26/90)
| +---------I __L__ ___- i \ ------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | _/ * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (ND Canada Service) -- Feb 26 (I), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines 1. On UBC LYH Election and Its Story ................................... 78 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. On UBC LYH Election and Its Story ----------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Note: In every university in Canada there is a Lian Yi Hui (LYH) to serve for Chinese students' benefits. As a student organiza- tion, LYH is elected annually by students. This has been a com- mon practice for many years and has been recognized by Chinese consulates. But this year, when Chinese students in UBC informed the education consul Mr Li Wong-Rong of the preparation for the annual election, he strongly opposed to holding the election. The consul replied that it is pre-mature to hold election now, while giving no hint on when it will be the "right time". However, the annual election was eventually held in UBC with a record high voters' turnout. The following is a very interesting story about this event. Mr. Li Wong-Rong, a teacher from Chemistry Department of Beijing University, has just replaced Mr. Liu Zaixiang as the education consul in Vancouver. We (NDCanada editors) would like to express warm welcome to Mr. Li. NDCanada is a widely-spread news channel for Chinese students. It might also be an ideal choice for educa- tion consuls in Canada if they have any message concerning Chinese students. We are very interested in knowing the reason why Consul Li thinks "it is not the right time to hold annual election in UBC" and when it will be the right time? It will be very much appreci- ated if somebody can send Consul Li a copy of this message and ask for an answer. ND Editorial Board hereby promises that any reply message from Consul Li will be carried in ND, without any editing. Please send reply message, if any, to <rzhu@violet.uwaterloo.ca>. Thank you very much. --- NDCanada Editorial Board February 25, 1990 ................................................................. Story about LYH Election in UBC ------------------------------- A general meeting of UBC LYH was held last Friday and a new exe- cutive committee of four members who are all pro-democracy was elected at the conference. About 250 people, including students, scholars and their family members, showed up. 174 members voted at the meeting. This is probably the largest election gathering in the history of UBC LYH. The four members in the new LYH execution committee were elected with 170, 170, 158 and 151 yes votes. After the election, two movies, one of them from the Culture office of the Consulate General of PRC in Vancouver, were shown. Before the beginning of the meeting, some leaflets were found around the Woodward Library where the meeting was to be held. The leaflets, coming from the Culture Office of PRC Consulate, say in Chinese that the sole purpose of lending movies is to promote Chinese culture and is not to support the election. "If we knew the movies would be shown in such an occasion, we would not have provided it", say the leaflets. Two of the preparing committee members borrowed two movies from the Culture office without mentioning the election meeting. It seems that the officials felt they had been fooled when they were told (most likely by the student spies at UBC) where, when and by whom the movies would be shown. Those people who have close contact with the Consulate did not show up, although they always claim themselves as Chinese movie fans. --- NDCanada Correspondents at UBC NDCanada News Editor: Rupert Zhu rzhu@violet.uwaterloo.ca NDCanada News Transmission: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription: (Xinmeng Liao) xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
chi@VLSI.WATERLOO.EDU (02/26/90)
| +---------I __L__ ___- i \ ------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | _/ * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (News General) -- Feb. 26 (II), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines News Brief ............................................................ 15 1. New Rules to Keep Students at Home ................................. 126 2. Chinese Province Restricts Marriages Of Handicapped ................. 35 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- News Brief ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fangzhen Lin <lin@Neon.Stanford.EDU> 24/2/90 Source: AP news BEIJING (AP) - An American jet caught fire while landing at a Chinese airport during a demonstration flight, but all seven crew members escaped uninjured, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday. Xinhua said the Lear-31 was owned by the Lear Jet Corp. It was landing in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, 255 miles southwest of Beijing, when the accident occurred Friday. Chinese aviation authorities were investigating the cause of the accident, Xinhua said. It did not say why Lear conducted the demonstration or for whom. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. New Rules to Keep Students at Home ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Newsgroups: soc.culture.china Date: 19 Feb 90 20:55:47 GMT Source : South China Morning Post By Willy Wo-lap Lam The Chinese Government has made an all-out effort to restrict the number of students studying abroad. In the past fornight, the State Education Commission has circu- lated a new regulation stipulating that college graduates must work for at least five years before they can apply to go overseas for studies. Chinese sources say, however, that there is also a body of unpub- lished rules that clamp down on overseas scholarship. Even before the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Beijing had tried to limit scholars going to Western countries, particularly the United States, which currently plays host to more than 40,000 Chinese students. Other "disincentives" included not granting exit permits to the spouse and children of overseas scholars. Since June 4, the quota of students permitted to go to Western countries has been further constricted, say Chinese eductaion sources. Beijing seems specially anxious to block the way for students, specialising in the arts and social sciences. "Beijing is giving priority to sending student who major in the sciences, engineering and other technological subjects," said a Beijning professor. "At the same time, it prefers short-term courses - for scholars as well as for officials - to full-term degree programmes." Since the restrictions apply equally to students who finance their own studies, monetary considerations are not a major reason for the draconian rules. Western diplomats say that Beijing fears a worsening of its brain-drain problem, specially among Chinese students in First World, Western countries. An estimated 90 per cent of Chinese scholars in the US have found ways and means to stay on after graduation. The Chinese government said the problem has been exacerbated after President George Bush signed an executive order allowing Chinese students to overstay in America. Yet an even more pressing reason for Beijing to close the door is fear that Chinese studying overseas will form anti-communist organisations to promote political liberalisation back at home. For example, the banned Federation of Democracy in China - which was set up by exiled leaders of the pro-democracy movement last spring - has branches in the US and Western Europe. The State Education Commission's (SEC) lastest move against over- seas scholarship has caused particular resentiment because leaders including Education Minister Li Tieying have repeatedly pledged that Beijing's policy toward sending students overseas remains unchanged. "The Government will improve the mechanism by which it sends stu- dents abroad on public funds and will continue to give support and guidance to those who study abroad at their own expense," Mr Li, also a politburo member, said last month. Before the spate of political liberalisation in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the past two months, Beijing had planned to dispatch more students to the East Bloc. "The education authorities are in a quandary as to where to send their students now," said a Western diplomat. "It seems that as much as in the US or Western Europe, Chinese scholars in East Germany and the USSR will be exposed to the 'peaceful evolution' tactics of the capitalistic West." Analysts expect Chinese embassies worldwide to boost their sur- veillance of the political activities of overseas Chinese stu- dents. In spite of the restrictions, however, the urge to study overseas will not diminish among China's youth. For the bulk of students and intellectuals disheartened by the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and the ensuing persecution of "dissidents", overseas studies is a legitimate escape route. Aside from restrictions imposed by Beijing, the would-be scholars are also hampered by tightened quotas imposed by foreign coun- tries, some of which have apparently buckled under pressure exerted by the Chinese government. Since June 4, long lines have appeared outside the embassies and consulates of countries that are the favourite destinations of Chinese students. Sit-ins and other types of demonstrations have taken place out- side Australian missions in Beijing and Australia by Chinese stu- dents who complain that Canberra has promulgated unfair restric- tions on students who want to study in that country. Such massive frustration has spawned opportunities for unscrupu- lous merchants, who promise would-be students visas and even foreign passports for a huge fee. According to Chinese statistics, since the beginning of the Open Door policy in 1979, more than 80,000 Chinese students have gone abroad to study. The bulk of the these have paid their way through college by tak- ing up temporary jobs overseas. In spite of promises by Beijing that returned scholars will have "priority treatment" in the allocation of jobs, few among this huge talent pool are expected to return. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Chinese Province Restricts Marriages Of Handicapped ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu Source: (AP) News 2/24/90 BEIJING - A northeastern province has barred people with phy- sical or mental disabilities from marrying or giving birth, offi- cial reports said Saturday. It was the second Chinese province to pass such laws. The reports said the legislature in Liaoning enacted the laws to prevent women from giving birth to babies with mental and phy- sical defects. It said the law would improve the quality of the population. The law, which takes effect July 1, also forbids close rela- tives from marrying. Gansu province, in China's remote and poverty-stricken northwest, passed a law in 1988 ordering all mentally retarded people who married to be sterilized and all mentally retarded women to have abortions if they became pregnant. The China Daily newspaper said the Liaoning regulations ban marriages between directly related members of one's family, col- lateral relatives within three generations and individuals not confirmed to have recovered from veneral disease and other infec- tious diseases. The newspaper did not say if mentally handicapped couples would be subject to sterilization. Officials contacted in Liaoning by telephone could not pro- vide additional details of the regulations. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription: (Xinmeng Liao) xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.edu | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Mon Feb 26 13:31:20 EST 1990