Duke professor warns students against speaking chinese

University apologizes over email urging Chinese students to speak English on campus.



Duke University has apologized after a professor sent an email cautioning international students against speaking Chinese on campus and urging them to speak English instead.

Duke University Apologizes Over Professor’s Email Asking Chinese Students to Speak English

The professor, Megan Neely, said in the email that two faculty members had come to her office complaining about students speaking Chinese "very loudly" in the student lounge and study areas. The faculty members wanted to identify the students and write down their names in case they sought to work with them in the future.

"They were disappointed that these students were not taking the opportunity to improve their English and were being so impolite as to have a conversation that not everyone on the floor could understand," Professor Neely wrote in the email. "To international students, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep these unintended consequences in mind when you choose to speak Chinese in the building."

FBI chief defends remarks on "the China threat"

Christopher Wray defended his previous portrayal of Chinese people in the U.S. as threats.



From Huffington Post: Despite backlash from Asian-American civil rights groups, FBI chief Christopher Wray defended his previous portrayal of Chinese people in the U.S. as threats.

In an interview with NBC News published on Wednesday, Wray addressed the controversial statements he made during a hearing with the Senate intelligence committee.

More here: FBI Director Defends Remarks That Chinese People In U.S. Pose Threats

This is not leaked footage from the Mulan remake. It's better.

Chinese kids perform a pretty faithful re-creation of "Honor To Us All."



Leaked! Here is footage from the upcoming live action remake of Mulan. Just kidding. I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it features a bunch of Chinese kids performing a pretty faithful re-creation of the "Honor to Us All" number from Disney's 1998 animated feature Mulan. According to a Facebook comment, it's from a show called Little Actors and Actresses, in which kids perform their own takes on classic movies and TV shows.

Check it out:

Arizona woman assaults students for speaking Mandarin

22-year-old Kalie Rutledge punched Xiaolin Shi for speaking Chinese on the light rail.



The hell? People apparently can't even speak Chinese in public in Arizona without the threat of violence. In Tempe, a woman was arrested for assaulting two students after she heard them speak Mandarin on the light rail.

Asian Couple assaulted in Tempe for speaking Mandarin on light rail, Kalie Rutledge arrested

Police say 22-year-old Kalie Rutledge was riding on the Metro Light Rail on May 20 when she heard Arizona State University student Xiaolin Shi speaking to a friend in Mandarin. She apparently took issue with this.

Rutledge reportedly told them, "I don't speak Chinese, shut the fuck up!" and "Bitch, go f---ing back to China."

Asian Birth Tourism, Numbers In Perspective

By Karthick Ramakrishnan. Cross-posted from AAPI Data.


Photo Credit: New York Times
In a recent press conference, Jeb Bush clumsily (and erroneously) said that the phenomenon of so-called "anchor babies" was "frankly, more related to Asian people."

As others have noted, the phenomenon of birth tourism is distinct from most conventional understandings of the offensive term "anchor baby," which tends to imply that people use birthright citizenship from their children to avoid deportation or eventually gain U.S. citizenship for themselves.

There has been a fair amount of sensationalist reporting on birth tourism by Chinese immigrants, with little understanding of the number of estimated "birth tourists," and how they compare to the overall number of Chinese immigrants or visitors to the United States. Below, we provide some numbers in perspective.

It looks like a wizard's bong, but it sounds just like Super Mario

Girls rocks iconic video game theme on an ancient Chinese instrument



Sure, you've heard the original Super Mario Bros. theme hundreds of times. But have you heard it rocked on an ancient Chinese instrument? I give you Nintendo's most iconic video game score played on a sheng.

This Centuries-Old Musical Instrument Sounds Exactly Like Super Mario

The sheng is one of the oldest Chinese instruments, dating back to 1100 BC. But after watching this video, I believe the instrument was created centuries ago, by prophetic Shang Dynasty wizards, in order to one day fulfill its true destiny: playing the sweet sounds of Super Mario Bros. Just watch:

Learn about the Health Insurance Marketplace in Chinese

White House hosting Mandarin in-language Google Hangout on January 23, 3:00pm ET

To inform the AAPI community about access to health coverage through the Affordable Care Act and the new Health Insurance Marketplace, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has been hosting a series of Google Hangouts in AAPI languages. Previous Hangouts have been presented in Korean and Vietnamese.

The next Hangout is in Mandarin, happening Thursday, January 23 at 3:00pm ET.

There will be a live question and answer period with Mandarin-speaking representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will respond to your questions and provide information on how to obtain health care coverage through the new Marketplace.

Here are some more details about the upcoming Hangout, in both English and Chinese:

'The Daily Show' investigates Chinese language programs

Aasif Mandvi interviews Jay Chen about the brainwashing conspiracy in Hacienda Heights.



Not too long ago, I wrote about the controversy over a China-funded language program for students in Hacienda Heights, California. Basically, critics are concerned that the language/culture curriculum could somehow be used to brainwash our precious American children.

Could this all be a nefarious scheme to indoctrinate young American minds with the ways of communism and general evil-ness? The Daily Show recently sent correspondent Aasif Mandvi to investigate, in this awesome segment: