October 25, 2024 | Vol. 53, Issue 20

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

Top News

Canadians See the US as an Example of What Happens When Guns are Not Heavily Regulated

[Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of SAMPAN interviews with people living in countries with strict gun laws] Just a week after the Uvalde shooting in the United States, Canada is one country that has strengthened their gun laws. If you compare the two, just north of the border, the public mindset and policies on firearms in Canada are vastly different from that of the United States. So what separates the two in terms of gun policy? […]

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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.” […]

Childhood Obesity Fueled By Consequences of the Pandemic

Politics, to paraphrase the philosopher John Gray, is nothing more than a series of imperfect remedies for recurring problems. No policy results in unmixed blessings; every decision we make has both good and bad consequences. So it is with the mandates and restrictions that have ruled our social life for the past two years. Lockdowns, school closures, and mask-wearing reduced the transmission of COVID-19 and prevented some serious illnesses and deaths. But two years on, we are vastly more knowledgeable […]

Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival: Behind the Scenes

Nestled in the history of ancient China lies the origins of the Dragon Boat Festival. Filled with food, wonderful cultural traditions, and inspiring, team-oriented races, today’s Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Races and Festival offer more than entertainment. It connects people and draws them into a different culture.  Strong leaders and advocates have worked to bring not only representation, but appreciation of Asian culture in America.  Volunteer led and volunteer based, the leaders of  Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival […]

American Legion Boston Chinatown Post 328: Continuing to honor Chinese-American Veterans

“Post 328 is a living memorial to all the veterans, both Asian American and not, who have come from the Boston community and served America with honor and distinction.”      -Post Commander Matthew Seto. Boston Chinatown’s Post 328 has advocated on behalf of veterans, service members, and the local community for more than 75 years. Founded after World War II, Post 328 originally helped negotiate benefits for veterans and their families, helping many take advantage of the GI Bill of Rights, […]

Leaving, Overcrowding, and Waitlisting: What are the next steps for Chinatown’s Affordable Housing?

While thinking about the settlement of Asian residents in Chinatown, one must consider its role as an ethnic enclave. It means that there is a great percentage of the residents sharing the ethnic and cultural identity, as well as their economic activity. As you walk down the streets of Boston Chinatown, you cannot help to notice the advertisements and brands in Chinese, to smell the sense of ethnic food, to hear people speaking languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese. Yet […]

Hate Groups Infest Massachusetts as Movement of Intolerance Grows Nationwide

Marching through downtown Boston, the hundred or so men wore the same style navy shirts, khaki pants, and baseball caps. White masks obscured their faces. But during their demonstration of intolerance on July 2, the group performed more than theatrics: Some members allegedly harmed a man named Charles Murrell, a Boston-area Black artist and activist during an alleged altercation. Murrell suffered injuries to his head and hand, but no arrests have been made yet in relation to the alleged altercation, […]

“It’s always at the back of my mind that someone could shoot us all up.”

“School is a place to learn, it isn’t a place for us to go and fear for our lives”. This was stated in an interview with Laura, a sophomore at Brookline High school.  While Laura is just one person in the sea of thousands of pupils, her thoughts are on everyone’s mind. It seems that just like in the cold war, when kids were taught to duck under their desks in case of a nuclear bomb threat, so are kids […]

Banning Juul e-cigarettes: Government Intervenes to Protect Youth

“This really doesn’t make sense to me,” says Jenny (name changed by request), a rising senior at a Boston exam high school. “There are so many cannabis shops now all over the place. I’m too young for that, but I don’t want it. I don’t want pot or tobacco like my friends. Juul is convenient, affordable, and a better alternative to what my friends are doing. Why is it now being banned?” Jenny, who asked her name to be withheld […]

Sampan Interviews Former Government Official About Gun Violence in Haiti

[Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of SAMPAN interviews with people living in countries with strict gun laws.] Recent devastating mass shootings in the United States have yet again brought the issue of gun violence to the limelight. In 2022 alone, the Gun Violence Archive has counted more than 250 mass shootings in the United States. The director of the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has even come out to say that gun violence in […]

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