An Open Letter to Chinese American Communities
Dear Fellow Chinese Americans:

"For the first time ever in human history, an economic and military superpower will emerge without war or warfare, and that is Asia's Middle Kingdom, China." These were the words of U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman when he and Senator Lamar Alexander introduced a new bill on the Senate floor on May 25, 2005.

The new bill put forward by the two Senators is the U.S.-China Cultural Engagement Act. Briefly, the bill aims to provide $1.3 billion to greatly enhance Chinese-language education in K-12 schools; expand the exchange of artists, scientists, and students, particularly young students, between the two countries; and promote scholarly studies on contemporary China.

The bill, if it becomes law, will no doubt lead to a better mutual understanding between the two great peoples across the Pacific Ocean. The impact of this bill on U.S.-China relations will be highly constructive and long-lasting. At home, the bill will especially benefit the Chinese-American community.

Never before has there been a bill in the history of U.S. Congress that specifically addressed Chinese culture and language in such a positive manner. And never before has the U.S. Congress had such a vision to develop the cultural relationship between China and the United States on such a long-term, strategic basis.

We certainly agree with that vision. The Chinese-American community, wherever they come from, whatever political views they hold, must come together to help support this bill and help make it into the law of the land.

We ask you to co-sign the open letter supporting this bill. Our time has come. Let us work together to help pass this bill. Let us secure a "yes" vote for this bill from every senator and congressman. Let us leave a truly great legacy to our children and all children of America.

National Council of Chinese Americans

Please co-sign this Open Letter.

(The following is the open letter in Chinese. If you have trouble reading it, please set your browser encoding to be either GB2312, GBK, or UTF-8)

亲爱的华裔同胞:

如您所知，联邦参议员李伯曼和亚历山大在今年5月25日向国会提出了一项题为《美中文化交流促进案》的法律提案。

这个提案的要点包括：由联邦政府拨款十三亿美元，加强美国中小学的中文教育；简化中国学生、尤其是中小学生短期访问美国的签证手续；设立奖学金鼓励青年对现代中国开展学术研究；加强美中科学家、艺术家的互访交流等。

李伯曼参议员在介绍该提案时指出：“人类历史上第一次，一个经济和军事超级强国正将在没有战争的硝烟中崛起，它就是亚洲的中国......”

中国的崛起，美中贸易的发展，激发着美国人民了解中国语言文化的需求。二位参议员顺应形势提出这项提案，是美国历史上第一次以国会立法提案的形式，从正面强调中国文化和语言的重要性。这也是美国国会第一次以长远的目光来看待文化交流在中美关系中的战略意义。

这个提案如果成为正式法律，将毫无疑问地引导美国和中国这两个伟大国家的人民更好地相互了解。这个法案在美中关系方面将产生极大的建设意义和深远影响。而在美国国内，自不待言，美国人民，尤其是年轻的一代和全体华人，将是这个法案的直接受益人。

作为美国华裔，我们当然十分赞赏国会表现的智慧。但提案成为正式法律，还有很长的路要走。所有的美国华人，无论来自何处或持有何种政治观念，都应该态度明确地支持《美中文化交流促进案》，以行动促成该提案早日通过，成为法律。

亲爱的同胞，順应天意，弘扬中华文化，是我们义不容辞的责任。请您访问我们的互联网站 www.nccaonline.org，使用我们为您准备的电子签名设备在这封公开信上签名。这是我们在美国政治舞台上扮演主要角色的时机。让我们一起来游说国会。让我们一起争取从您所在州的国会议员那里得到一张赞成票。让我们一起给我们的后代，给全体美国人的后代，在美国留下一笔地久天长的、无价的文化宝藏。

美国华人全国委员会

请在这封公开信上签名。

Please click here for a printable Chinese version. 中文印刷版在此

NCCA, the New Voice of Chinese Americans
www.nccaonline.org