Features

May 9, 2025 0

Sampan Talks With B.U. Prof. on Hunger Strike Over Canceling of Palestine Speech

Boston University professor Nathan Phillips, who teaches in the Earth and Environment department, began a hunger strike last month over the arrests of Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil and his university’s removal of signs expressing political speech on campus. Sampan reporter Harmony Witte caught up with Phillips shortly after he began his hunger strike in support of free speech. At the time, the professor said he was healthy and alert. Following is an edited version of that conversation. A longer […]

May 9, 2025 0

Autism Awareness and Inclusion Celebrated at the Xiangfu Center

by Zhang Mei

Friends and families gathered to celebrate, reflect, and share new hopes on April 12 in Chelmsford at the Autism Celebration and Recognition Gathering at the Xiangfu Community Center. The event served as a continuation of the Autism Awareness Symposium held April 5–6 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (see Sampan.org for more). Xiangfu Community Center has long supported multicultural communities through education, culture, and wellness programs. The center’s director, Mr. Jerry Wang, provided support in organizing and executing the event. […]

April 30, 2025 0

‘She Represents All of Us’: News Legend Connie Chung Shows She Could Tango With Nixon … and Crack a Good Joke

by Anna Hu

Going to see Connie Chung talk is like going to a stand-up show where the comic also happens to be a famous journalist. The more than 200 audience members who filled the GBH Calderwood Studio for “A Conversation with Connie Chung” this March likely had a good idea of who she is: the first Asian American to anchor a broadcast program in the United States. They might have known that she broke into the industry and pushed her way to […]

April 29, 2025 0

These Students Were Sure They’d Study in the U.S. Not Anymore

by Darren Liu

Sampan’s Hong Kong-based reporter Darren Liu asked several young adults from abroad whether the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants made them think twice about studying in the U.S. That was in mid-March and the views were mixed. Liu recently followed up with the students after several high-profile abductions and detentions of university students and graduates occurred — including many with no criminal charges — and student visa cancellations. Here is what these students are thinking now as many have grown more cautious: […]

April 25, 2025 0

Vietnamese Americans Tell Story of Diaspora in Own Words at 50-Year Anniversary Event

by Adam Smith

This April marks a half-century since refugees began flooding from Vietnam after the end of the war, making their perilous escape from persecution and violence. In recognition of this anniversary, hundreds of Vietnamese Americans and others are slated to gather on April 26 at Boston College High School in Dorchester for “Remembering Black April: 50 Years of Vietnamese Diaspora.” “It’s a pretty momentous year and time to think about the impact of the war’s legacy on families and communities,” said […]

April 25, 2025 1

Chinatown Eatery Owner Speaks Out

by Martin Gao and Lydia Lowe

The owner of Double Chin Restaurant and Bao Bao Bakery says she is facing eviction from her two Chinatown businesses, after about 8 years in operation. Owner Gloria Chin grew up in Boston and says that Chinatown “has always been a really big part of my identity” as her family has been involved in businesses in the neighborhood for multiple generations. We spoke to her about the struggles of running a business in the area — including hiring staff, rising […]

April 25, 2025 0

Editorial: These Two Judgments Are Worth Reading

by Editorial Team

We’ll leave the writing in this editorial to two voices that deserve to be magnified. First, the words of Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, who rejected an appeal by the Trump Administration in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly sent to an El Salvadoran prison: “It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is […]

April 11, 2025 0

As Some See a Taller Chinatown With New Zoning, Let’s Focus on Getting to the Right Heights

by Mingjia Chen

In the black box theater inside Chinatown’s Josiah Quincy School last month, hundreds of people reached into their little gift bags and pulled out small bottles of soap. As Dr. Heang Leung Rubin led the room in a collective wish, her voice was gentle: “Close your eyes and imagine — what could Chinatown look like in ten years?” Kids, young families, seniors, city officials and others all held their wishes in silence. Then, as bubbles filled the room, they caught […]

April 11, 2025 0

Knowing About Birthright Citizenship’s Past Critical to Ensuring Its Future, Say Experts

by Darren Liu

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” That quote, from the first U.S. president, George Washington in a letter penned in 1788, kicked off a panel discussion last month on the future and history birthright citizenship and Trump administration’s attempts to reinterpret the 14th Amendment. As clear-cut as Washington’s quote sounds, history tells a different story. That was a […]

April 11, 2025 0

‘SenStory’ Breaks Mental Health Taboos With Performing Arts

by Virginia Sun

Elderly Chinatown residents took the stage at the Pao Arts Center last month – some sang karaoke to their favorite classic Chinese songs, a couple of them showed off their jianzi (birdie foot game) skills to the rest of their crowd, while others watched bilingual improv theater sketches in Mandarin and Cantonese. But behind the music, crafts and performing arts enjoyed by the nearly 200 participants, the March 8 event, “SenStory: Home as a Verb” contained a central theme: How […]

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