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)

親愛的華裔同胞:

如您所知，聯邦參議員李伯曼和亞歷山大在今年5月25日向國會提出了一項題為《美中文化交流促進案》的法律提案。

這個提案的要點包括：由聯邦政府撥款十三億美元，加強美國中小學的中文教育；簡化中國學生、尤其是中小學生短期訪問美國的簽證手續；設立獎學金鼓勵青年對現代中國開展學術研究；加強美中科學家、藝術家的互訪交流等。

李伯曼參議員在介紹該提案時指出：“人類歷史上第一次，一個經濟和軍事超級強國正將在沒有戰爭的硝煙中崛起，它就是亞洲的中國......”

中國的崛起，美中貿易的發展，激發着美國人民了解中國語言文化的需求。二位參議員順應形勢提出這項提案，是美國歷史上第一次以國會立法提案的形式，從正面強調中國文化和語言的重要性。這也是美國國會第一次以長遠的目光來看待文化交流在中美關係中的戰略意義。

這個提案如果成為正式法律，將毫無疑問地引導美國和中國這兩個偉大國家的人民更好地相互了解。這個法案在美中關係方面將產生極大的建設意義和深遠影響。而在美國國內，自不待言，美國人民，尤其是年輕的一代和全體華人，將是這個法案的直接受益人。

作為美國華裔，我們當然十分讚賞國會表現的智慧。但提案成為正式法律，還有很長的路要走。所有的美國華人，無論來自何處或持有何種政治觀念，都應該態度明確地支持《美中文化交流促進案》，以行動促成該提案早日通過，成為法律。

親愛的同胞，順應天意，弘揚中華文化，是我們義不容辭的責任。請您訪問我們的互聯網站 www.nccaonline.org，使用我們為您準備的電子簽名設備在這封公開信上簽名。這是我們在美國政治舞台上扮演主要角色的時機。讓我們一起來遊說國會。讓我們一起爭取從您所在州的國會議員那裡得到一張贊成票。讓我們一起給我們的後代，給全體美國人的後代，在美國留下一筆地久天長的、無價的文化寶藏。

美國華人全國委員會

請在這封公開信上簽名。

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