CSS Today 95004

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            ]]]    ]]]   ]]] ]]]   ]]] ]]]   ]]]    ]]]     No.  95004
            ]]]     ]]]]]]]  ]]]]]]]]  ]]]   ]]]    ]]]    _1995.02.12_

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CSS Today Editorial Board                             csstoday@iastate.edu
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In This Issue


O Electronic Press Conference


* IFCSS President LUO Ning Travels to Schools in the South

By CSS Today

CSS Today just recevied a message from Mr. YANG Jie, the IFCSS HQ officer. The IFCSS president,Dr. LUO Ning, is travelling to the south to meet Chinese students and scholars in schools at Florida, announced the memo sent out by Mr. YANG, addressed to the CSS public. The text is as follows:

FR: Jie Yang, IFCSS HQ

TO: Chinese Students and Scholars

RE: IFCSS President Coming South

Dt: February 7, 1995

Dear CSS Fellows,

While some of you may still in a crazy mood of holiday celebration, all have to realize that it is time back to busy school life, back to the season in which your hard efforts may bring a wonderful new year of accomplishement and success.

It is at this very moment we are happy to announce that IFCSS president, Dr. LUO Ning, is now heading south to visit some of your campuses. This trip is a continuation of his visit conducted late last year to several campuses on the west coast.

As scheduled, his first stop will be at Florida State University at Tallahassee, where he will be meeting with local CSSA leaders and CSS and possibly attend a film show Wednesday night(February 8). On Thursday and Friday(February 9, 10), he will be at University of Miami and anticipate a get-together with IFCSS activists from local areas and CSS generally. For Saturday afternoon(February 11), President LUO Ning has been invited for a special fund-raising drive for the Chinese victims of the recent earthquake in Kobe, Japan. Such event is sponsored by CSSA of University of Florida at Gainsville.

On behalf of the IFCSS president, I would like to extend our invitation to you, if you are in local areas where IFCSS goes, to meet with him, expressing your concerns on IFCSS and CSS community. Council members in southern states can contact HQ at 202-347-0017 so that we can arrange a meeting for you. President LUO Ning will surely meet some of local council members and many others as well.

Thank you for your continued participation and support of IFCSS.

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O Special Topic: Violence Among CSS (Part I)


* Houston: Murder of A Female Chinese Engineer

By JP/CSS Today

A computer programmer from China was murdered by her ex-lover in Houston in Jan. 2, 1995.

According to police, Ms. DUAN Lin, 31, was leaving a birthday party held in her honor when she was shot and killed at about 1:55AM in Houston. Ms. DUAN and her roommate Ms. LIU Xiaojia were about to entere their car, when the suspect Mr. CHEN Li emerged from his truck nearby and started to shoot. Mr. CHEN fired several rounds at Ms. Duan from a shotgun, killing her instantly. CHEN then got around to the other side of the car and fired at LIU, injuring her right knee and torso. LIU is now in hospital.

Police found CHEN leaning on his truck with the shotgun stuck in his mouth. The officers disarmed him and put him under arrest. Police found ammunitions and a pair of binocular in CHEN's truck. CHEN has been indicted for first degree murder by Harris County Criminal Court.

CHEN, 29, is also from China. He graduated from Houston University and was working in a computer company. He just went through a divorce recently.

Ms. DUAN Lin was single and worked in West Atlas Corp. as a software engineer. She had known CHEN for about a year and dated him for a few months. But DUAN tried to end the relationship last October. CHEN kept pursuing her. Police said that CHEN called DUAN on New Year's Day and tried to resume their relationship, and was refused by DUAN.

This murder has shocked the local Chinese community. It has been pointed out that, for Chinese students, the transition period from school to workplace is a "danger period", in which various drastic events can occur. Houston clinical psychologist XU Ruoping pointed out that after leaving school some Chinese students experience loneliness and have the tendency to rely on intimate relation with the opposite sex for consolation. The prevalent influence of violence in contemporary society has impact on these persons. They might resort to violence for their emotional frustration. Prof. Sheldon Zhang of Cal State University San Mateos said that when some Chinese students finished their study and had a stable job, they were overwhelmed by the freedom and opportunity presented to them. They often had difficulty in distinguishing what they could and could not do. Experts urge female Chinese students learn to protect themselves in the similar situation, if necessary, they shall seek "restraining order" from local courts.

(Based on news and reports of Chinese Daily News, Jan. 4, 6 and 9, 1995)

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* Why Did They Kill Over Failed Romance?

Sheldon Zhang/California State University, San Marcos

The recent murder cases involving students from mainland China sent quite a chill down the spine of much of the Chinese community in the U.S. Many people ask the question, Why did these seemingly well educated people go to such an extreme? Newspaper editorials, community leaders, psychologists, and sociologists were struggling to probe into the minds of the killers to look for answers. Getting on the bandwagon, I am offering my explanations as to what might have contributed to the killings.

What is fascinating about these tragedies is that all of them were directly linked to some failed love affairs. In a country where homicides are the 7th leading cause of death and tens of thousands of people die each year in the hands of others, less than 3 percent of murders involve love triangles or unrequited romance. People fall in love, get involved; some get married while others fiddle around, then part in different ways. Although the pursuit of personal happiness is deeply ingrained in this culture, few broken hearts will ever become homicidal and inflict fatal harm on their exlovers. However, this doesn't appear to be the case with the few mainland Chinese, who went through great troubles to come to this country, worked hard and succeeded in almost every other aspect of life only to become stuck in the torment of romantic relationships. Perplexing as it may be; but still there some plausible explanations.

First of all, these killers tend to be social loners, which means they are not always cognizant of the rules and norms of the dating game. They don't have many friends, especially of the opposite sex. These loners are usually not fond of socializing, making friends, party-going, or simply getting to know others. To compound their lack of interpersonal skills is their rather narrow social circle, which is the case for most students living away from major Chinese community. They either don't have the cultural skill or simply don't have desire to make friends among mainstream Americans; nor do they have much choice among their own compatriots. A brief survey of our own social circle will reveal that for those of us from mainland China choices are very limited when it comes to dating. This peculiar social environment tends to intensify the few romantic relationships that somehow do take place. The inherent loneliness as a first generation immigrant or overseas student away from our homeland and the limited social access combine to drive these loners to latch on tightly whatever they could get their hands on.

Ending a love relationship is emotionally draining for most people. Insomnia or excessive sleep, reduced attention, lack of appetite or over- eating, lack of interest in social activities, and impatience are some of the symptoms of the broken-hearted. Different people may have different ways to crawl out of the slump; and not all loners are potential killers when dumped. But it becomes lethal when the social loners are also self- centered or egoistic. In such cases, these loners could not stand being deserted and took the separation as an overall indication of personal failure. Probably for the most part of their lives, especially when they were young, they have had things their way. Their threshold of tolerance is very low and any type of rejection or failure is unacceptable to them. In a limited social environment, clinging onto a failed relationship becomes desperately necessary for them to protect the integrity of their self and pride since their self-centeredness prevents them from rational reasoning and decisionmaking. This is particularly true for those who have made it in this country and considered themselves as capable of just about anything. Based on my personal observations, more marriages break up and more extra- marital affairs occur among Chinese students after they have left school. It is the sense of accomplishment, job security, and the concomitant awareness of unlimited opportunities and freedom out in the real world that blur the line over what is permissible and impermissible.

Painting a psychological profile is only part of the explanation to the senseless killings. The easy access to fire arms also significantly increased the lethality of the vindictive act. Since most Chinese students have no records with the police, it is fairly easy for them to go through the background check to purchase guns. Compared to knives or other possible methods, fire arms are much more efficient and hassle-free. Although this may sound like a broken record, guns do kill. In fact, taking aside gunrelated killings, the homicide rate in the U.S. is actually about the same as that of most other industrialized countries. The readily available fire arms enabled these social loners to carry out their plans much faster, with little or no time to re-think during the commission of the act.

The secluded social environment and mobility also made it easy for the offenders to get to the victims, such as in the Houston case in which the killer drove to intercept his ex-girl friend outside a party house and blasted her to death with a shot gun. In most cases, the killers and the victims lived in a very limited circle where both knew exactly where to locate the other; and few outsiders even knew anything unusual was going on, let alone alerting the police. With the strife known only to the involved, the killers had a complete control over the situation. Bounded by the traditional Chinese belief that one should not hang out oneis dirty laundry, the victims were often too embarrassed to make any noise. Most of them even continued to maintain some level of contacts, giving false hope to the perpetrators. Thus the three basic elements of any criminal event converged to make the tragedies inevitable--the motivated offender, the suitable target, and the lack of capable guardian.

Although it is unfashionable to blame the victims, there are lessons for all of us to learn. First, we need to know the proper ways to end a relationship, maintaining a mature attitude towards all love affairs and avoiding hurting each other as much as possible. In this respect, we can all learn one or two things from our American colleagues--make friends with them and talk to them, or read a few novels, and go to the movies. Secondly, know your weaknesses. If you have problems dealing with rejections and failures, the best way is to talk it out, if not to therapists, at least to your friends. Talking helps you process your thoughts and reduces the build-up of internal tension. Thirdly, as a potential victim, you should learn a few tricks to protect yourself. Changing your residence and telephone number is probably the easiest way to avoid harassment. If your ex-partner seeks you out at school or work place, then you know troubles are coming. You should then take the extra step to protect yourself. File for a restraining order is a common way to go. But most important of all is to keep your friends and even colleagues informed of your situation. The traditional Chinese way of hiding your personal affairs and trying to settle disputes privately just will not work in this culture.

Tens of thousands of students from mainland China have settled down in this country and lead a productive life. Very few of them have ever got entangled with the law. However, we live in a violent country and are exposed to all kinds of temptations. Although these killings should be viewed as rare and exceptional, they serve as a good reminder of how vulnerable we all can be and how we should deal with our lives as well as those of others carefully.

(The author is an assistant professor in sociology and an expert in criminology)

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O Special Topic: Entering 1995 (Part III)


* "Fit to Win" in American Society

By LI Xiaobo

As everyone knows America has been among the countries with the highest living standard and productivity in the world for a long time. Its science and technology are also in the top ranking in the world . Its economy has a strong growth rate and modest inflation rates compared to other developed countries. This may raise a question why America has been able to hold its success for such a long time in today's severe competitive global environment? Why has it not followed the tracks of those empires in history which were prosperous and booming for a few generations, but then declined gradually?

One of the answers may be that America is a country of immigrants. It attracts so many outstanding scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other talented people that come to this country. It absorbs the new and fresh blood to nourish itself, to renew its vigour, and to rebuild its society. The attractiveness comes from its system and its culture, i.e., democracy, freedom, and openness.

We, the new generation of Chinese immigrants benefit directly from this system and this policy. We are highly educated, intelligent and hardworking people. These are our strengths, and because of them, we are quickly moving ahead to the front in the science and technology world, the academic world, and the America corporate world etc.. However, we do have a weakness, i.e., we don't have roots in this society, because we are the first generation of immigrants from China since 1949. We don't have the right social connections which would make big differences in climbing the social ladder. We lack the thorough understanding of the American culture. All of these things make the road to success relatively longer and harder in this extremely businessoriented competitive world.

Nothing can be taken for granted, once a American friend told me, even the democracy in a free and democratic county. We have to work for it, ask for it, and fight for it for our own sake. So don't get upset by some discrimination against Chinese, don't run away from it, position yourself as an American, take the right attitude towards it. So, I feel sort of happy when a friend of mine told me that we are now getting into a booming period of Chinese organizations these days. Most of these organizations, such as various professional associations, hometown friendship clubs, and many alumni associations, function like an information exchange, and an introduction to the new culture, personal finance, and connections building among ourselves, etc. These activities are very useful and practical in terms of helping ourselves to fit into this society."Fit to Win" is the slogan in the American corporate world. Fitting in is not just for survival but also for winning. However, most of these organizations are not functioning as a interest group. In the long run, I think, we need an organization which will function as an interest group. That will represent the common economic and political interests of all Chinese people in America. It will act like an American labor union, or a kind of Chinese federation. I wish such organization could be setup in about 2 - 3 years through full discussions, consolidations, and compromise among various current Chinese organizations.

(The author is the president of Chinese Profession Association in USA)

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O In the Community


* Eleven Elected as CAL Directors

By LIU Zhuo/CSS Today

The Chinese Academic Link (CAL) has concluded the 1995 election of the Board of Directors. The election turned out a record high votes. It is said that there were 160 ballots counted. Voters were from USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, and, most excitingly, China. "Each ballot reflects the enthusiasm for CAL and the growing recognition of CAL in the CSS community." said Dr. Ming-Ya Jiang, an Election Committee member. It is worth to mention that substantial percentage of the votes came from outside the US.

Of a total of 15 candidates on the ballot, 11 are elected. They are (in alphabetical order): CAI Yifa (University of Abertay Dundee (UK)/Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China), GAO George (University of Arizona, US), GUO Xinyu (Ehime University, Japan), HAN Weiping (Cornell University, US), LIANG Liqun (Case Western Reserve University, US), LIN Hai (University of Oregon, US), LIU Dong (University of California, San Diego, US), LIU Albert (Wireless Access, Inc., Canada), XU Zhi (University of Minnesota, US), YUAN George (University of Queensland, Australia), and WU Quanji (University of Saskatchewan, Canada).

CAL replaces and elects half of board each year. The 11 newly elected and the 10 remained directors are in a process of registration to the board (calboard@u.washington.edu). Based on CAL Bylaw, with more than 2/3 of the Directors registered the Board is in session. As soon as the Board is in session, the new President will be elected by the Board. "The 1995 should be an important year for CAL. We all are looking forward for the 4th President." said Dr. Yaxin Wang, the retiring President. CAL has been serving the CSS communities by publishing academic "News Release" and "Job Information Service" (nr-editor@macc.wisc.edu). CAL promots academic exchanges between China and overseas by collecting Ph.D. dissertation abstracts (CDDAC@maxwell.usc.edu). CAL also helps CSS in health insurance (cal@goren.u.washington.edu).

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O Open Forum


* Jobs Searching Difficulties for Chinese Ph.D.

Compiled by LI Daowei/CSS Today

A posting titled "PhD level jobs for Chinese students" on Social.Culture. China (SCC) by Danny Partridge on Feb. 2, 1995 revealed his observations on the employment difficulties of CSS:

1. The downturn of the S & E market due to recent defense cutbacks, coupled with the granting of over 30,000 green cards to Chinese students after the Tienanmen Massacre, have resulted in a massive unemployment problem for phd graduates, especially, Chinese graduates in the U.S.

2. Many students regret having spent 6-8 or more years in a PhD program and then having to take entry level, lower paying computer programming positions in industry unrelated to their studies. (I have several anecdotes regarding PhDs taking work as waiters and bus boys in Chinese restaurants.)

3. Chinese students, more than any other group, are especially hard hit because they tend to cluster in the S & E specialties and, due to language and cultural differences, tend to be most discriminated against in the job market.

4. Younger mainland students no longer wish to come and study in the U.S.

5. Some students have had to resort to manual and other work completely unrelated to their studies. This has led to resentment against their American universities.

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* Chinese Society Has Become Corruptive and Immoral

By LI Xiao-lin

It seems that the trade war over intellectual property is eminent. China has so far failed to respond to the US invitation for the last minute negotiation. I believe this time Chinese government is going to take a hard line approach to show that it stands high against American imperialism. You may call it dignity or you may call it arrogance. They are enjoying their new year, after that many ordinary people will lose jobs. They don't seem to care. No one knows exactly what is in America package and what is in the Chinese package. Therefore ordinary people suffer in blind like they did in many past wars.

To be realistic, I am not very sympathetic to the Chinese government this time. China has traditionally disliked intellectual people. The entertainment world has been constantly controlled, censored and persecuted by the communists and many outstanding Chinese movies such as those directed by Zhang Yimo, were not able to enter the Chinese market. It therefore rely on copying of the foreign movies which have less political and social impact to the Chinese society.

Many brilliant software producers were chased out by the government for lack of motivation and political freedom. Those who copy and sell are very arrogant in China. Chinese society has become increasingly corruptive and immoral. Last year, there was the swimmer's drug scandal which not only made people felt ashamed, but also hurt many who defended them.

The mentality of the government and police are increasingly arrogant and rude. I can now understand why Professor Yang Xiaofeng's brother was mysteriously dead in the hand of police for only a small conflict with the taxi driver. We also heard beating and torture of female political prisoner such as Tong Yi.

Deng Xiaoping is dying. Jiang Zeming is a less confident opportunitist. I think China will become worse in his hand.

(The original article was posted on Social.Culture.China)

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O Information Sharing


* Chinese Newspaper PFG Offers Free Trial Subscription to CSS

By LI Daowei

Press Freedom Guardian (Xin Wen Zi You Dao Bao) is a political and social newspaper published in Los Angeles by a group of Chinese from mainland. The newpaper has played a significant role and becomeed a banner in the great course of Chinse people to seek political progress and social justice in China. To expaned the newspaper, which cuurent distribute 5000 copies for each issue, even further, the publisher welcomes trial subscription from CSS. Five free issues of the newspaper will be mailed upon the request from any CSS without any obligation whatsoever after that. For you free copy, please write to PO Box 6159, Alhambra, CA 91801, FAX to (818)576-7837, or Email to dyuan@hydra.acs.uci.edu.

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* Hotel Complex in Guilin Seeks Business Partner

From LI Yilun/Chinese Society of Science and TechnologyTranslated by DING Yungui/CSS Today

A 3-star level grand hotel in the beautiful Guilin is looking for a business partner to transfer all or part of its $30 million worth assets.

The hotel is located in the center of Guilin's new town, 20 minutes' ride to airport and 7 minutes to train station. The hotel has a court yard type complex, which is a good combination of the elegance of traditional Chinese royal architecture and convenience of modern facilities. It's the ideal place for vacationers, conferences, and business people.

The complex has 52,000 square meters (sqm) of indoor area in a 130,000 sqm property. It has a 12,400 sqm lake, 14,000 sqm lawn, and 669 rooms. Its 8 restaurants can serve 1,100 people at the same time. There are karaoke, dancing room, multi-purpose hall, conference rooms, beauty saloon, fitness center, shopping center, and outdoor swimming pool inside the complex. The complex also has a complete self sufficient support system which includes 14 employee dormitory buildings, 3 employee cafeterias, laundry room, warehouse, fuel reserve, electricity system, air conditioning system, and so on.

For further information, contact LI Yilun, Beijing at 086-1-834-1924, 8010859 (ph) or 835-5366(fax).

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* China-related USIA Grant Programs (2 Items)

Forward By Dong Shaw

(1) USIA Grant Program on Rule of Law

SUMMARY: The Office of Citizen Exchanges (E/P) announces a competitive grants program for nonprofit organizations in support of projects on the theme of RULE OF LAW for audiences in the following geographical areas: American Republics; East Asia (Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Regional GATT); Eastern Europe and the NIS (excluding Russia); Middle East (Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco); and Western Europe (Greece). USIA particularly is seeking projects which link American institutions and specialists with partners overseas. New and creative approaches to the issue of rule of law will be especially welcome. Proposals which request USIA funding of less than $135,000 and which include significant cost sharing will be deemed more competitive.

All communications concerning this announcement should refer to the Rule of Law Grant Program, announcement number E/P-95-42. Please refer to title and number in all correspondence or telephone calls to USIA.

Deadline for Proposals: All copies must be received at the U.S. Information Agency by 5 p.m. Washington, D.C. time on March 3, 1995.

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(2) USIA Grant Program on Local Government

The Office of Citizen Exchanges (E/P) announces a competitive grants program for nonprofit organizations in support of projects on the theme of LOCAL GOVERNMENT for audiences in the following geographical areas: Sub-saharan Africa; American Republics; East Asia (Peoples Republic of China); and Western Europe (Italy). USIA particularly is seeking projects which link American institutions and specialists with partners overseas. New and creative approaches to the issue of local government will be especially welcome. Proposals which request USIA funding of less than $135,000 and which include significant cost sharing will be deemed more competitive.

All communications concerning this announcement should refer to the Local Government Grant Program, announcement number E/P-95-41.

Deadline for Proposals: All copies must be received at the U.S. Information Agency by 5 p.m. Washington, DC time on March 3, 1995.

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Contact for the above two programs:

Office of Citizen Exchanges, E/P, Room 216, United States Information Agency, 301 Fourth Street, SW., Washington, DC 20547, telephone (202) 6195326, fax (2020 260-0437. For complete document, E-mail rlwalls@dsp.purdue.edu

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* Openings in Management School in Zhengzhou

From CHENG Ming

The new Management School of ZhengZhou University located at Zheng Zhou, HeNan, is funded by oversea Chinese companies and approved by Chinese Government at 1994. It has a beautiful campus and nice enviornment. The university also has the world class educational and living facilities.

Now the university have serveral openings at each following field:

English, Internationl Business, Accounting, Management, Marketing, Finance Information related field.

The applicants must have Master or Ph.D degree. The retired or sabbatic professors are also welcome.

The saraly will be about 3000 Yuan per month and the university also provid free dormitory for either sigle or married faculties and a free international round trip ticket per year for each oversea faculty.

For application please send resume to mchn@chevron.com. or Ming Cheng, 1300 Beach Blvd, La Habra, CA 90631

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The End

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