chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (02/01/90)
* C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t *
(ND Canada Service)
-- Feb. 1 (II), 1990
Table of Contents
No. of Lines
1. Consul's Dilemma While Visiting MSU .............................. 59
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1. Consul's Dilemma While Visiting MSU
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by Li Ding lding@blake.acs.washington.edu
source: soc.culture.china
Chinese New Year Incident
At Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan January 29, 1990
Chinese students at Michigan State University mourned the
dead of the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre at the presence of the
Chinese educational consul from Chicago.
Chinese students at Michigan State University decided to
hold a party to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year on
Saturday evening. However, the arrival of Mr. Ma Chunlai, the
Chinese educational consul at Chicago, was a surprise to almost
all Chinese students at MSU. Despite many students called him
before the party and expressed unhappy with his possible atten-
dance, Mr. Ma Chunlai showed up in the party anyway.
Right after the opening remarks by the current FACSS
president, Mr. Jia Shizhe, the former president of FACSS at MSU,
stood up. He said: "We have an old saying in China 'Mei3 Feng2
Jia1 Jie2 Bei4 Si1 Qin1' (At time of festivals we are missing
most our friends and relatives at home). Although we are
thousands of miles away from home we will never forget those who
died on Tiananmen Square on June 4th and those who are still in
jail only because they fought for a democratic China." He pro-
posed that all stand up to mourn those dead heros and salute to
those who are still in prison. All three hundred students and
guests stood up.
Mr. Ma Chunlai turned himself into a very isolated and
awkward position. At the beginning he appeared very tense and
nervous when he saw everybody standing up. To hide his nervous-
ness he ate some fried rice noodles in several big swallows. Then
he also tried to turn his face away so nobody could see him. But
he never seemed to stand up. Among all 300 people he was the
only one who did not stand up. However, after the party some
students who sat close to Mr. Ma said they saw him stand up for
one second in a very strange posture, a posture between sitting
and standing.
Jia Shizhe also thanked the local Chinese and American
friends who supported the MSU students during last May and June
democratic movement. His speech was cheered and applauded. Mr.
Ma did not make any attempt to speak.
After the party, Mr. Ma was surrounded and questioned by
the students. He said he came only on his own behalf and he
denied that the Chinese government condemned the IFCSS as a
counter-revolutionary organization.
(revised by Rupert Zhu)
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