Daily Dose: 10/16/08

October 17, 2008

» Leland Wong Gets 5 years in ‘Pay to Play’ Corruption Scandal
» Amendment 1 targets Florida’s anti-Asian land law
» Ming Dynasty replica junk sails across Pacific
» Wa Sung Community Service Club Presents a “Toast to Tapas”
» The Legend Lives On
» Maggie Q: Good Hollywood Roles Rare for Asians
» Park Says South Korea Have Got Their Confidence Back
» Chinese Sweethearts Put Love Match on Ice
» InnoPath Appoints Chan as Vice President of Engineering
» 22 Asian sailors free after Somali pirates for spying

Compiled by Andrew Lee and Ellis Song

AsianWeek Market Report

AsianWeek Market Report
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Citigroup	C	15.51	-0.70	(-4.31%)
Amkor Technology, Inc	AMKR	3.99	-0.06	(-1.49%)
Sybase	SY	24.43	+0.42	(1.79%)
UnionBancal Corp	UB	73.32	+0.06	(0.08%)
East West Bank corp,Inc	EWBC	12.91	-0.08	(-0.62%)

NATION

Leland Wong Gets 5 Years in ‘Pay to Play’ Corruption Scandal

LOS ANGELES — A judge on Friday sentenced onetime Los Angeles city commissioner Leland Wong to five years in state prison, bringing an end to Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley’s “pay to play” investigation of the administration of former Mayor James K. Hahn.

Wong, the son of Chinese immigrants, had served in the administrations of three Los Angeles mayors, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs as his friends and family watched. The San Marino resident was found guilty in July on 14 felony counts, including bribery, conflict of interest, perjury and embezzlement.

Prosecutors accused Wong of receiving monthly payments of $5,000, deposited into an off-shore bank account, from Evergreen Marine Corp., a Taiwanese shipping firm that was hoping to negotiate a lucrative new lease at the Port of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson called prison an appropriate punishment for an experienced city commissioner who used duplicity to help Evergreen gain “extraordinary access to city officials.”

Wong, 51, hid his financial relationship with Evergreen from harbor and airport officials and told Evergreen there was nothing unlawful about his actions, the judge said.

Attorney Janet I. Levine, who represents Wong, said her client planned to file an appeal of his conviction and would ask the state Court of Appeal to release him pending that action. Levine also described her client as a giving public servant who deserved probation, not a prison sentence.

Wong was also ordered to pay more than $138,000 in restitution and fines.

— Los Angeles Times

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Amendment 1 targets Florida’s anti-Asian land law

Asians can be barred from owning property in Florida — or so it says in the state constitution.

Amendment 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot would repeal a 1926 amendment that allowed the Legislature to ban “aliens ineligible for citizenship” — an old code word for Asian immigrants — from buying and owning real estate.

Although the provision was never enforced and was invalidated by subsequent federal court rulings, backers of Amendment 1 believe the words should still be removed from the constitution.

— Associated Press

BAY/CALIFORNIA

Ming Dynasty replica junk sails across Pacific

A Chinese junk, as small as a yacht and as brightly painted as a child’s toy, is in San Francisco this week at midpoint on the historical adventure of a lifetime.

The boat is named Princess Taiping, and its crew of six men and one woman sailed it across the Pacific in 69 days to make a point — that Chinese sailed across the Pacific to America years before Christopher Columbus sailed to what he thought was a new world.

The Princess Taiping, 54 feet long, powered at sea by cotton sails on three masts, was designed to ancient specifications “to reveal the magnificence of the Chinese sailing heritage,” according to the Chinese Maritime Development Society, which helped organize the voyage.

— San Francisco Chronicle

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Wa Sung Community Service Club Presents a “Toast to Tapas”

EVENT: 1st Annual “A Toast to Tapas”
DESCRIPTION: The Wa Sung Community Service Club is proud to celebrate its 55th year of community service. The event will feature delicious food, fine wine, specialty beers and other beverages provided by some of the leading Greater Bay Area restaurants, caterers, bakeries, wineries and microbreweries.
DETAILS: $40, Sunday, Nov. 2 between 1 and 4 PM.
CONTACT: Wa Sung, (501) 869-2589, toasttotapas@sbcglobal.net

ART/ENTERTAINMENT

The Legend Lives On

The Legend of Bruce Lee (Li Xiaolong Chuanqi), a 50-episode TV series airing on CCTV-1’s prime time slot from Oct 12, attempts to show the human face of the iconic kungfu master.
As the first-ever film or TV series on Lee by a Chinese mainland crew, the series traces his life from his teenage years to his move to America, his film career and sudden death at the age of 32.

The dazzling kung-fu scenes, says director Li Wenqi, are only part of the drama, while the stories of Lee as an ordinary human being are what differentiate the show from numerous other biopics of the martial artist.

It might be hard for some to believe Lee was afraid of cockroaches, but the series reveals this to be true. To overcome his fear, Lee is believed to have killed some cockroaches and strung them together as a necklace.

The series also tells of the love affair between Lee and his wife Linda. Lee is shown as a funny and tender boyfriend, and later a loving husband and father. Lee’s early experiences of washing dishes in restaurants and clearing garbage in a hospital have been retained in the final version, after an exchange of scores of letters between the director and Lee’s daughter Shannon.

On Lee’s controversial death, the version in the series is that he died of overwork and the abuse of stimulants. This accords with the most enduring rumor since Lee’s sudden death in 1973. Some, however, believe excessive physical training triggered Lee’s death.
Unlike most other films or TV series on Lee, the show has plenty of scenes showing Lee losing bouts to his opponents.

“Most people only know a Bruce Lee who was a super hero, someone who always won,” said Hong Kong actor Chan Kwok Kwan, who plays the icon. “But few understand that behind the glorious moments was also a vulnerable man.”

— China Daily

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Maggie Q: Good Hollywood Roles Rare for Asians

HONG KONG — Despite landing roles alongside Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, Maggie Quigley — aka Maggie Q — says Asian actors still have a hard time getting good roles in Hollywood movies.

“The first part of it is going into a room (for an audition) and trying to quell this stigma that people have about Asians only doing certain kinds of roles and Asians only being looked at a certain way,” Quigley said. “You run into these stereotypes a lot.”

She was speaking after a press conference in Hong Kong to promote the video game Need for Speed Undercover, which features a character she portrayed.

Quigley said American filmmakers are confused by her biracial background. Born in Hawaii to an American father of Polish-Irish descent and a Vietnamese mother, the actress first made her name in the Hong Kong film industry.

“They think, ‘Wow, what is this? There’s this girl. She’s Asian, but she’s not.’ They’re really not sure where to put me,” Quigley said.

Quigley is currently shooting Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Warrior and the Wolf, about the friendship between two generals in ancient China traveling near the Silk Road.

— Yahoo News

SPORTS

Park Says South Korea Have Got Their Confidence Back

SEOUL — South Korea’s squad has regained its confidence, Park Ji-Sung of Manchester United said Thursday, a day after the national team overwhelmed the United Arab Emirates 4-1 in an Asian World Cup qualifier.

“I was a little nervous before the match because (younger) players lack experience,” the 27-year-old, who skippered the team during the qualifier, told reporters before flying back to England. “But the match went smoothly because the juniors cooperated well with the more experienced senior players,” said Park, who scored a goal and an assist.

The victory puts South Korea at the top of Asian Group B. They are competing with Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE and North Korea in the final qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup.

South Korea hope to keep up the momentum towards their seventh straight World Cup ticket with victory in their next regional qualifier in Saudi Arabia next month.

— Agence France-Presse

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Chinese Sweethearts Put Love Match On Ice
BEIJING — Chinese badminton sweethearts Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang have put their marriage plans on ice to focus on regaining their number one rankings, local media reported on Thursday.

Beijing Olympic champion Lin, who lost his world number one spot to Malaysian rival Lee Chong Wei last week, has scuppered his 27-year-old girlfriend’s plans to retire and become a housewife, the China Daily said.

Xie, who held the number one spot for most of the year but lost the Olympic championship bout to compatriot Zhang Ning, will go back on the tour instead, the paper quoted her as saying.

“I want to try to compete with a relaxed mind and really enjoy playing badminton in future. If I can manage to do this and adjust myself well, I will continue my sports career,” Xie said.

The high-profile couple’s wedding was to be the latest in a string of celebrity marriages involving Olympic champions who held off exchanging vows to concentrate on the Games.

Table tennis champion Wang Nan, fencing gold medallist Zhong Man, and double Olympic taekwondo champion Chen Zhong have all recently tied the knot. Men’s gymnastics champions Yang Wei and Li Xiaopeng are also busy preparing.

“Their weddings were pleasant and sweet. But right now we will not think about (getting married) as Lin is still focusing on his sports career,” Xie said. “I can understand and will support him.”

— Guardian

COMMERCE

InnoPath Appoints Adrian Chan as Vice President of Engineering

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — InnoPath Software, the leader in Mobile Device Management (MDM), has appointed Adrian Chan as Vice President of Engineering. He is responsible for all phases of server and client product development, from program inception through final handoff to the customer. He joins InnoPath at a critical juncture, as the company extends its footprint into new markets such as China and India, onto new handset platforms such as Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android, and as MDM begins to play a key role in mobile network operator customer care organizations.

Chan brings to InnoPath over 20 years of experience in driving strategy and development of innovative products in wireless, enterprise application infrastructure and service architecture. Before joining InnoPath, Mr. Chan held executive engineering management roles at Bubble Motion, Instant802 Networks and BEA. Prior technical management and development experience also include Netscape, HAL Computer Systems, Andersen Consulting and AT&T. He holds an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

“Adrian brings deep domain and management expertise as well as a proven track record from both large and small companies,” said John Fazio, President and CEO of InnoPath. “His engineering leadership and discipline will permit us to raise our development organization to the next level.”

GLOBAL

22 Asian sailors free after Somali pirates seize ship

A South Korean official says a group of 22 Asian sailors has been released more than a month after their cargo ship was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young has told reporters that the crew members — eight South Koreans and 14 citizens from Myanmar — are heading toward a U.S. Navy vessel in the area after being set free earlier Thursday.

Daily Dose: 10/16/08

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