February 21, 2025 | Vol. 54, Issue 4
Chinese Version 繁体 / 简体中文版 首頁

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

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Behind the Drum, Cymbal and Lion, There’s Adrenaline, and Then Hunger Snake Mural Lets Viewers Send Wishes, Artist Hold onto Chinese Heritage Order Said to ‘Criminalize’ Some Non-Citizen Students for Protest Don’t Miss Out on These Credits Time to Brush Up on Kids’ Dental Health

Housing

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Developing Chinatown’s Future: A Conversation With ACDC’s Executive Director, Angie Liou

by Zoe Voss Lee

Walking through Chinatown today, you will encounter layers of its identity: the memories of a Chinatown long gone, the visions of a Chinatown that could have been, the Chinatown that remains a home for long-term residents, and the Chinatown being reshaped for tourists and transplants. In a neighborhood that has been created and stewarded by immigrant Asian American residents, luxury developments now dot the landscape – raising rents, and displacing residents. At the same time, those developments have exacerbated the […]

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Emotions Run High as City Reveals Proposals to Change Zoning Rules

by Ava Belchez

Voices in English, Cantonese and Mandarin overlapped and echoed throughout a theater room at the Josiah Quincy Upper School on Jan. 18 at a city-sponsored meeting on rezoning plans for Chinatown. Property owners, business owners, and community leaders had various – and often conflicting – opinions about the rezoning proposal. One of the most contentious issues was a set of plans to dramatically change zoning heights for some types of buildings in Chinatown, which has seen several high-rise luxury housing […]

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Expert: Lead, Other RisksLurking in Drinking Water

by Darren Liu

As concerning amounts of contaminants are found in drinking water systems – whether it be “forever chemicals” or lead from corroding pipes – the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed the first national, legally enforceable drinking water standard in the nation. This would reduce levels of contaminants but come at a cost of replacing and upgrading pipes. PFAS – or polyfluoroalkyl forever chemicals – are estimated to contaminate dozens of public drinking water systems in 86 Massachusetts communities since, posing risks […]

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State Program Doles Out $27M for Housing as Many Priced Out

by Esther Wang

The Housing Development Incentive Program on July 9 rolled out the largest funding boost to Massachusetts communities in the program’s history, doling out a total of $27 million to various cities and towns. But the cash infusion for new housing will likely make only a small dent in what many residents see as a crisis of unaffordability. The HDIP funds were awarded to 13 communities across the state to build 547 new units of housing in Barnstable, Brockton, Fall River, […]

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Clean Energy Activist Frank Pao Sees the Light

by Kristen Si

The U.S. Small Business Administration is lifting a loan program cap for clean energy projects for small businesses. With these new regulations, small businesses will be able to take out as many loans as they would like for up to $5.5 million to fund energy reduction or clean energy projects. These new policies come as part of a series of policy changes urging for cleaner energy from the Biden-Harris administration.Amid these new policy changes, Sampan had the opportunity to speak […]

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Rats in Boston: A Rising Concern and the Push for a New Pest Control Office

by Sabrina Yeung

As Boston grapples with a surging rat population, officials and residents alike are increasingly concerned about the ramifications of this persistent problem. The city, renowned for its rich history and cultural significance, now faces a less savory challenge that could affect its public image and quality of life. Rats are not just a nuisance but a costly hazard as they get into homes, vehicles and elsewhere. In response to the escalating problem, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn is advocating for […]

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Hope is On the Rise For the Boston Housing Crisis

by Zoe Liu

On February 28, 2024, MassHousing and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC) announced their partnership in launching and growing a new $50 million Equitable Developers Fund. This fund aims to diversify and accelerate Massachusetts’ housing delivery system by providing enterprise-level financing to active but underrepresented developers from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This fund marks a huge moment as it is the largest publicly led financing program in the country.  In Massachusetts, the median price for a single-family home was […]

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Converting Used Office Buildings Into Affordable Housing: Who are the Real Stakeholders

by Kristen Si

There is no doubt that the city of Boston is currently in the midst of a housing crisis. In the Boston Foundation’s annual report, the Greater Boston area received a failing grade in the year of 2022. The report cites confounding factors of economic growth and rising housing prices with the bottom line that middle and lower-income families will be struggling in the coming years to find affordable housing options if new policies are not adopted. The current issues will […]

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Elderly Housing Crisis is Really Happening and It’s Getting Worse

by Kristen Si

During December 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which revealed that on any given night, more than 500,000 people in America were homeless in 2022. The statistics show a 0.3% increase in homelessness between 2020 and 2022. Despite significant federal measures through policies such as the Emergency Rental Assistance program, more and more people are facing the reality of being unable to find stable housing. While the 2022 HUD report […]

Chinatown Row house
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Preserving Chinatown, One Row House at A Time

by Lydia Lowe

To afford the average purchase price of a Boston home, a household would need to earn at least $181,000 a year, according to a recent Boston Globe story. In Chinatown, property values have skyrocketed since the luxury development boom and remain high despite the current recession. What has that meant for Chinatown’s immigrant, working class residents? The signs of gentrification now visible throughout the city took root early in this community. American Community Survey data for 2017 revealed that the […]

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