Chelsea Wang, Author at Sampan

Chelsea Wang

Health July 25, 2022 0

How Massachusetts is Responding to the National Crisis in the Aftermath of the Dobbs Supreme Court Decision

In the first few days after the decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the landmark Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, thousands of Bostonians protested the ruling. They gathered in front of the State House and in Copley Square, marching and chanting across downtown Boston. They held signs displaying messages such as “guns have more rights than women in the U.S.A,” “bans off our bodies,” and “abortions save lives.” […]

Front Page July 10, 2022 0

Sampan Analysis: What Abortion Ruling Means, What’s Ahead

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 upheld a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. This ruling comes 49 years after Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that struck down a Texas law banning all abortions except those necessary to save the mother’s life. The Court had ruled in 1973 that criminal statutes that outlaw abortions at all stages of pregnancy violate the Due […]

Front Page June 26, 2022 0

As Shanghai Loosens Lockdown Rules, Residents Cautiously Step into New Freedoms

After a two months’ long city-wide lockdown, the people of Shanghai were at last allowed on June 1 to freely roam the city. Businesses reopened, and people gathered at landmarks and attractions, eager to celebrate their newfound freedom. Fears of another lockdown, however, plague the city still — and so do fears of renewed restrictions, lost time with family and a further economic toll. To get a window into how the people of the major city perceive the loosening of […]

Front Page June 17, 2022 0

The Shanghai COVID Shutdown: searching for hope in the midst of extreme measures

[Editor’s note: On June 2, 2022, Shanghai neighborhoods returned to lockdown status only a day after restrictions were eased. This article is an account of the struggles experienced during the course of the initial lockdown. It is an ongoing story that Sampan will continue to cover.] After a two-month lockdown of Shanghai, it appears as if things may return to normal in the near future. New infections have been falling for days. Public transportation routes and essential businesses–such as convenience […]

Features May 24, 2022 0

Chinese Laundry: Personal Stories of Pride and Perseverance

For first-wave Chinese immigrants in the mid-1800’s, laundries were a primary source of income and a significant part of Chinese-American labor history. Along with construction of the railroads, the laundry business was a mainstay of the Chinese immigrant economy. The Chinese needed to survive in an English-speaking world in which they did not have access to most employment opportunities. The laundries remain a point of shared connection between many Chinese American families today. Thomas Chin’s family worked in their hand […]

Asian Hate Is on the Rise in Massachusetts, but the True Number of Threats, Attacks Remains Elusive

Last July a Chinese American attorney was approached as she left her office at Tremont Street and Washington Street in Boston. A person came up to her, pulled on her reusable mask, and let the force of the elastic bands slap the mask back against her face. The perpetrator then ran away as the attorney demanded to know: Was she attacked because she was Asian? “I can do whatever I want,” was the response. After the attack, the attorney, who requested […]

Front Page April 12, 2022 0

Concerns Linger Over China Initiative’s Fate

Weeks after news that the Department of Justice’s four-year-old “China Initiative” would be dissolved, some experts now warn the program that largely targeted Chinese immigrants and visiting academics could be revived as easily as it was killed–and that its influence lingers on. “The pendulum could swing back the other way on that,” Mitch Ambrose, who heads science policy newsletters and tracking resources at the American Institute of Physics, told the Sampan. “There’s clearly interest among certain Republicans in bringing back […]

Front Page March 28, 2022 0

Justice Dept. Ends China Program

A Trump-era Department of Justice initiative that critics say unfairly targets Chinese Americans is ending, but some say the damage has already been done. The “China Initiative” was launched in 2018 when the DOJ was run by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The program was intended to defend the United States against what officials believed to be intellectual property theft conducted by the Chinese government, but it has been criticized for unfairly targeting Chinese scientists in the U.S., and some say […]

Front Page March 14, 2022 0

Anti-Asian Notes Target President of Harvard’s Undergrad Council

Michael Cheng, president of the Harvard undergraduate council, was the apparent victim of anti-Asian slurs at the campus late last month, in an incident that has been condemned by dozens of organizations and hundreds of members affiliated with the school. “It just crosses a line in many ways,” said Cheng, who’s pursuing a joint concentration in history and mathematics and a concurrent fourth-year master’s degree in computer science. “I just have seen casual stereotypes about Asian Americans thrown about at […]

Education February 28, 2022 0

SFFA v. Harvard

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases challenging affirmative action–race-conscious–admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization led by legal strategist Edward Blum, sued the universities in 2014, alleging that their admissions policies discriminate against Asian American and white applicants. SFFA accused Harvard of discriminating against Asian Americans through the personal rating–which purports to measure personality traits such as leadership and kindness–it assigns to each applicant. On January 24, […]

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