Month: May 2022
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The Price of Dignity: Vincent Chin
Today we honour Vincent Chin. We honour his choices. We honour his way of life. We honour his dignity. We honour his life. This is why we choose the day that marked his life rather than the one that marked his death. Guangdong province, 18 May 1955 – a man was born who later be…
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Ten Hours in Torreón: the Massacre of Cantonese Chinese during the Mexican Revolution
May 15th 1911, a military tribunal appointed by Emilio Madero met immediately after the tragedy we know today as the Torreón Massacre, or the Matanza de chinos de Torreón. After hearing testimonies, this tribunal concluded that the Maderista soldiers had committed atrocities. It was on May 15th that the Federal forces withdrew from Torreón, Coahuila,…
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O Canada, our home and native banned: Chinese Immigration Act 1923
Canada is known on the internet as a polite place where everyone is nice and apologises for everything, but really, that just describes traditional Southern Chinese culture. Canada is a whole different story. When last year May it was discovered that countless native children have been murdered by the Canadians, it blemished their precious imagine.…
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Road to Rukun Negara: the Tragedy of 13 May
Malaysia was under British colonial rule for a century. How they chose to use the Chinese Kongsi as a middle-man between themselves and the Bumiputera (indigenous) Malay people was effective in generating inter-ethnic strife between the Malays and the Chinese, the very same inter-ethnic strife that caused the 13 May incident of 1969. It seems…
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Peranakan or not, the Chinese must rot: the 1998 Riots in Indonesia
The first time I heard a Chinese–Indonesian speak about his experiences was at a anniversary celebration in a Chinese Saturday school somewhere in the Netherlands (I forgot where, but it was a short drive from Utrecht). The speaker was a middle-aged man from Indonesia. He had a sort of demeanour about him that set him…
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The Eight May Incident: Bombing the Chinese in Belgrade
On the night of May 7th to May 8th 1999, a US B2 bomber dropped 5 JDAM GPS precision guided bombs on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. 3 people died, 20 more were injured. We should take care to remember Shao Yunhuan, Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying. This was a blatant attack on China, a…
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Get out and stay out! the Chinese Exclusion Act
“Almond-eyed, spindle-legged,” “yellow-skinned,” “pig-tailed,” ”bald-pated,” “filthy, unnatural, and abominable,” “dependent, ignorant . . . animal machine.” These are just a few of the words American newspapers used to describe us, John Chinaman. It was a time in which such words were deemed acceptable when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. Exactly 140 years ago on 6 May 1882.…
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May Fourth Movement, Commemorating the Dead and Liberation Day
Today is the fifth of May. In a tiny country in northwestern Europe, the liberation from foreign occupation, German in this case, is celebrated. Yesterday, the fourth of May, the entire country would remain silent for two minutes in order to remember and honour the Dutch lost who their lives in WWII and other subsequent…
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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Here it is, the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. While I appreciate the sentiment, it implies that every other month isn’t Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. It feels like we’re being thrown a bone from the table of the master as he gets to enjoy the real prize, whatever that might be. At any rate,…
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