April 25, 2025 | Vol. 54, Issue 8

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

Month: July 2023

Peace, Reunification, and Healing: an Interview with Crossings Director Deann Borshay Liem on the two Koreas and Hopes for Resolution after Seventy Years

Emmy Award-Winning documentarian Deann Borshay Liem’s new film Crossings examines the 2015 journey a group of female peace activists takes to call attention to the still unresolved issues between North and South Korea. It starts streaming on July 22 at midnight on worldchannel.org, WORLD’s YouTube and the PBS app ahead of the July 23 television broadcast on WORLD at 10pm ET. SAMPAN: Your work is often about identity and the repercussions of history. Crossings shows, among other things, how the […]

Joy Ride: A True Joy Ride From Start to Finish

The latest film by director Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians) is aptly named as it is a true joy ride from start to finish. It tells the tale of four Chinese American friends who embark on a journey to China to find one of their birth mothers. The film is simultaneously raunchy and hilarious, with a few surprisingly poignant moments mixed in, all of that along with an exploration of identity. Along the way, the main characters all learn to […]

DANGEROUS WEATHER ACROSS THE U.S.: How We Must Adapt to Survive

A severe weather pattern has been working its way across the United States over the past few weeks with a diversity of effects: heatwaves in the southwest, thunderstorms and tornadoes in the midwest, and thunderstorms and extreme flooding in the northeast. According to meteorologist Alex DaSilva, a dome of high pressure over Texas and an active jet stream pattern across the northern United States have been the driving forces of the extreme weather. Heatwaves are expected to continue to spread […]

Hundreds Continue to Die: Human Trafficking and the Adriana Boat Tragedy

On June 14th, 2023, a fishing boat, the Adriana, sank off the coast of Greece. However, this boat held far more than just a few fishermen. It is estimated that 750 people were aboard the vessel before its demise, one still yet to be solved. That being said, there are at least two things we know for sure. Hundreds have died, and hundreds are still missing. In its totality, though, this was not a well-documented voyage. In fact, a lack […]

Ruling on Admissions Invites Mixed Emotions From Sampan Readers

Editor’s Note: Sampan asked a cross-section of Massachusetts residents about the recent court ruling regarding Affirmative Action. We spoke with retired Executives, academics, students, parents, and teenagers. What follows are their emailed responses, edited for clarity and space. I am personally conflicted with how I feel about the overturning of affirmative action for college admissions. On one hand I can see the usefulness of affirmative action and how it creates a more diverse student body which is very important. As […]

Supreme Court: Harvard and UNC’s Use of Race in Admissions Process Is Unconstitutional

The Supreme Court ruled Friday, June 30th that Harvard’s and University of North Carolina’s use of race in the admissions process was unconstitutional, changing the impact of affirmative action in higher education. The 6-2 decision for Harvard and 6-3 decision for UNC ruled that both school’s admissions processes discriminate against Asian Americans and violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans institutions that receive federal funds from discriminating “on the grounds of race, color or national origin.” The decisions […]

Immigrants and Their Stories: A Series of Narratives

In this series, we interview new immigrants to the US to hear their stories, struggles, and dreams. Here, we speak with Hu Yang (his name has been changed), from China. Hu Yang, from China Hu Yang comes from the city of Tai Shan in Guangdong Province, China. After graduating from college, he began working as an intern at the Bank of China. He remained at the bank for 17 years, rising to the position of Loan Officer Manager. Hu Yang […]

Government Support Must be Increased to Make New Technology Affordable

While it may be easy to forget in the summer heat, New England suffers from some of the most brutal winters in the country. With temperatures occasionally dropping below zero degrees Fahrenheit every year, the cost of living in Boston is underlined with the additional cost of keeping people warm in their homes. Annually, New Englanders pay hefty costs for utility bills, with the cost of energy being some of the highest in the country. Using 2022-2023 data, the website […]

Elemental Review

Pixar’s Elemental is a sweet, transfixing tale of an immigrant family of fire elementals making their way through their new life in Element City and the unlikely love story that unfolds. The film follows two generations of a family who are new in a city full of anthropomorphic water, land, earth, and air residents. A city that its very infrastructure is not made to accommodate fire elementals.  When the young, temperamental, Ember, meets an easy-going water elemental called Wade, sparks fly, and […]

DIGNIDAD Act: The First Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill Seen in Years

With the nation bogged down in partisan, polarized debate surrounding immigration, the DIGNIDAD Act provides the first bipartisan effort at reform effectively transcends party lines with seemingly practical solutions and works to address security, documentation, and humanitarian aid. The system currently faces a backlog of 1.6 million cases and unprecedented humanitarian displacement in Latin America. The situation shows no signs of slowing. The evenly divided Congress could prove a barrier to this bill’s eventual enactment. For now, the results remain very uncertain, […]

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