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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1997)
The Battalion Tuesday - July 1,199 Ti Groups Continued from Page 1 “People fear China because of 1989 Tiananmen Square,” Cheng said. “It was a disaster because China is Communist. Students wanted more freedom and more right of speech. It was the government and students against each other. After that, we feared China.” Cheng said that over the next few years the world will see changes China will make in Hong Kong. “Only with time can we tell what effect China will have on our people,” Cheng said. “I hope there is no dramatic change.” mk Photograph: Shannon Castle Xin Wu signs his name on a banner in celebration of Hong Kong’s return to chi na with his father, Chen Wu, looking over. The Texas A&M Chinese club hosted a celebration in the MSC Friday. Economics are a major factor in the Hong Kong transfer, because Hong Kong is better off financially than China, Cheng said. “There’s so much money going through Hong Kong that I want to go back there to work,” he said. Of Hong Kong’s 6.3 million-person popu lation, 98 percent are of Chinese descent, and 2 percent are of other ethnic groups. The is land has few tariffs and a labor force of 2.8 mil lion, making Hong Kong a favorable area of trade and economic growth for China. Annai Hwang, an international studies graduate student from Hong Kong, said she feels there will be no dramatic changes as Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule. “We do not fear at all when China takes over Hong Kong,” Hwang said. “We have a background with China. It is as much a part of Hong Kong as Hong Kong is with China.” At 11 a.m. CST yesterday, ceremonies in China and Hong Kong recognizing the han dover were broadcast worldwide on televi sion. Hwang said watching the ceremonies made her feel like she was witnessing history. “The exchange should have been seen by everyone around the world,” she said. “Everyone should have stopped what they are doing and watched the TV” Hwang, who moved to the United States last year, has studied religion in Asia, and said religion in Hong Kong is as diverse as it is in the United States and will not be changed by the turnover. “Religion is not a major factor in the Hong Kong society,” she said. “I think Chi na will respect that.” Hong Kong has an eclectic mixture of non-Christian religious groups representing 90 percent of the population. The ceremonies Friday night included speeches, a video on the “Opium War” and performances of dancing and singing. The China Club at A&M has more than 400 Chinese student members. Six hundred people attended Friday’s ceremony, includ ing China Club members, their families and members of the Hong Kong Club, which has close to 100 members. Dwindling empire Colonies that have gained independence from Britain since 1947: Bahamas amaica 1962,, Mr Belize St. Vincent and Grenadines 1979 Barbados Trinidad and Tobago 1962 St. Kitts and Nevis 1981 Antigua and Barbuda 1981 . h ; • Dominica 1978 " ‘ ^ Lucia 1979 Grenada 1974 '6&W§ierra Leone 1961 Nigeria 1960 Cameroon 1960 Malta 1964 Gambia 1965 Ghana 1957 Tanzania Zambia 1964 Botswana 1966 Maldives! Uganda 1962 'ft!*—i Kenya 1963- r Seychelles 1976 ladesh 1947 Kong 1997 Kiribati 19?‘ ^ Malaysia 1957 Brunei 1984i Papua New Guinea •1975 j, | Nauru 1968 Sri Lanka 1948, Juvaly1978 Va ' awi1964 Mauritius iSa 9 ^ 1965 7soldmon IsWs Vanuatu 1980 Tonga 197C Lesotho 1966 ^ ^ Zimbabwe 1980 Swaziland 1968 Handover Continued from Page 1 Britain had sharply protested the use of armored vehicles, saying they would frighten people. But they were met by hundreds of people lining the road in pelt ing rain, waving flags, banging cymbals and applauding. Some cars stopped, Chinese officers got out beaming, and they were garland ed with flowers. Then 10 navy ships sailed in, some carrying troops at attention on their decks. They sailed under the Tsing Ma road-and-rail suspension bridge, the world’s longest and a symbol of the wealth and knowhow that make Hong Kong so valuable to China. A protest rally by democrats, who op pose moves to trim civil liberties and dis mantle the elected legislature, proceed ed peacefully after the new, post-colonial government yielded to their demands to deliver speeches from the balcony of the legislature. The handover started seconds before midnight, when the Union Jack and the colonial flag came down. Eight seconds after midnight, the Chinese flag was in place alongside that of the newly re named Hong Kong Special Administra tive Region of China. “This is both a festival for the Chinese nation and a victory for the universal cause of peace and justice,” President Jiang declared to the global array of for eign and Chinese VIPs assembled for the change of flags in the Hong Kong Conven tion and Exhibition Center. "July 1,1997, will go down in the annals of history as a day that merits eternal memory,” the stocky, bespectacled presi dent said. “From now on, the Hong Kong compatriots have become true mastersof this Chinese land.” Charles, heir to the British throne, said Britain was “proud and privileged to have had responsibility for the people of Hong Kong ... to have been part of the success which the Hong Kong people have made of their opportunities.” The prince’s presence lent added his torical resonance to the ceremony. It was his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten,whom he strikingly resembles, who presided over the decolonization of the Indian subcon tinent 50 years ago — the beginning of the end of empire. Harassment Continued from Page 1 Tarlow said the attending students felt the police were not helping to protect them from harassment. “I asked the students if any felt they had been discriminated against in .. TiGi Oil VIJ ■ l,J J 11. I 11 a JOij Housing Continued from Page 1 Evertt Spaeth, director of architecture at Halff As sociates, said his firm worked with Vanderweil to study the 2.6 million square feet of A&M’s 106 resi dence hall buildings. He said the study took five months to complete. Spaeth said the study found it would cost the University $308 million to rebuild the residence halls. He said this figure puts the $26 million ren ovation cost, less than 10 percent of the $308 mil lion it would take to rebuild, in perspective. Mizer said the department does not plan to build any new residence halls at the present, but the de partment is studying what kind of residence hall rooms should be built eventually. Mizer said the department is looking into apart ment-style residence halls. He said work to combine three modular resi dence hall rooms on the first floor of McFadden into one suite-style apartment should be com pleted this summer. He said four students will be able to try out this new type of residence hall room this fall semester. The layout of the apartment will allow the resi dents to share a kitchen and living room. The two bedrooms each will be equipped with a bathroom. Northgate. They all raised their hands,” he said. “I asked who felt they were helped by the police. No one raised their hand.” Before the meetings started, interna tional students were not reporting crimes and incidents that occurred, Neralla said. Many international students are grad uate students and do not have the time to fully complete and follow up a crime report, Neralla said, and many students also were wary of police. “Because of cultural backgrounds, some foreign students do not feel com fortable with coming to the police,” Ner alla said. In some international students’ home countries, police forces are militant or work differently than those in the Unit ed States, Todd said. A “community-oriented” police offi cer, Lt. Paul Price, has been assigned to keep in contact with the Northgate stu dents about any concerns they have. A meeting will be held in July for all citizens to discuss sidewalk and light ing improvements. “It is our goal as a department to pro vide services to all citizens,” Todd said. Neralla said increased police paDo around the Northgate area has givenabei ter sense of security to residents, andin- ternational students are pleased with there sponse the police department has given. “The College Station Police Depart ment is being very helpful in thisstoa tion,” Tarlow said. “I am very proud! them. This is a problem that has been: nored for some time.” IM byh it c The two bedrooms each will be shared by two peo ple and will be separate from the living room area. Eric Williams, Residence Hall Association presi dent and a senior biomedical science major, said al lowing students to try out this new style of residence hall is one of the many ways the Department of Res idence Life is seeking student input. “I think the common resident in the next year is really going to see it,” Williams said. Ron Sasse, director of the Department of Resi dence Life, said he will give a long-range housing re port to the Board of Regents in September detailing the department’s work over the past three years, in cluding salaries, staffing, organization, renovations and the results of the Halff Associates and Vander weil Facility Advisors study. Sasse said the Department of Residence Life does not receive any funding from the state. Funding comes from the money students pay to live in the residence halls, interest on deposits and bonds sold for new housing. But the department must have the Regents’ ap proval on how it spends its money. “Any large amount of spending has to be ap proved by the Board of Regents,” Sasse said. Mizer said the department spends $1 million on improvements to facilities each year, but next year it hopes the Board of Regents will allow it to increase that amount to over $1.5 million next year and $2 million the next two years. 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