LinkChinese UK News

The UK Border Agency has made available the new Tier 1 (General) and Tier 1 (Dependent) application forms which will be used for application made on and after 30 June 2008.

Tier 1 (General) and Tier 1 (Dependent) forms.

 

Letter from Edinburgh University Confucianism Study Society outlining the purpose of the organisation as well as calling for volunteers:

Dear All,

I am pleased to let you know that Edinburgh University Confucianism Study Society (CSS) has been officially approved. So far, it has members committed from both the student body and the broader community.

The main purpose of the CSS is to promote cultural understanding between China and the UK, and to facilitate a better understanding of China within the modern global context, but also to contribute in some small way in what that China will be. The key concepts are ‘interaction’, ‘cooperation’ and ‘participation’, and through an active approach which incorporates these concepts, we see the creation of something unique (ie: a Chinese/UK fusion that is fresh and exciting). Ultimately, we expect opportunities to arise to create greater links between China and the UK, including, importantly, beneficial academic and business links.

For the coming academic year, the CSS will meet weekly on Tuesdays at Pleasance. Together with regular Mandarin lessons, various events have been planned. Additionally, the CSS will hold a grand East Meets West music event on around the Chinese New Year 2009 called ‘Connecting’, which will fuse a Scottish orchestra with Mr Peng YuQiang, Asian Newsmaker 2008 & a famous Chinese traditional Erhu player, playing specially commissioned music at the Queen’s Hall.

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The UK Border Agency announced today the new rule for family visitor visa, under which the sponsors of family visitors have to be licensed. If the family visitors they sponsor fail to leave the UK after six months period, the sponsors may face penalities and even jail sentence. The proposed cash deposit for family visitors is dropped after consultation. The period of visitor visa remains six month. To attract more tourists from the countries like China, a group visitor visa will be introduced.

A new type visa will be created for sports people and entertainers to come to the UK for one-off sports events or entertainment events such as Edinburgh Festival.

The UK Border Agency announcement.

 

The Tier 1 visa will be fully implemented on 30 June 2008, the Home Office announced. This will cover several Tier 1 catogries including Tier 1 (General) which has already been rolled out, Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Post Study Work). The much anticipated Tier 1 (Post Study Work) which grants two years of working visa to international students graduating from UK higher educational institutes, will replace current IGS and Scotland’s Fresh Talent scheme.

The Tier 1 visa is part of the points-based system, and will replace the following visa categories. On or after 30 June 2008, visa application of the following categories will not be accepted. Applicants must apply for one of the four Tier 1 categories.

The categories that will close and be replaced by Tier 1 on 30 June 2008:

* the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP);
* business people;
* writers, composers and artists;
* Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme;
* International Graduates Scheme;
* innovators;
* investors;
* self-employed lawyers.

The announcement on UK Border Agency website.

 

Marcel Berlins on the Guardian:

The Chinese population of South Africa suffered much discrimination under apartheid. They were not treated as badly as were black South Africans, but were still subject to many indignities and prohibitions. They fought hard against their second-class status and eventually, even before the end of apartheid, most of the legal barriers were removed or disregarded.

So there was something ironically surreal in last week’s decision by South Africa’s high court that the Chinese - at their own request - should be classified as black. The motive was financial - access to various black economic empowerment schemes available to the victims of apartheid. To qualify, they had to be regarded as black. Hence the court case.

 

The Times Ginny McGrath reports the new trends of Chinese restaurants, the use of MSG, and locally sourced ingradients.

If the mention of a Chinese meal conjures up images of lurid chunks of deep fried chicken, it’s time for a rethink.

The Asian cuisine, whose love affair with most Britons extends to nothing more wholesome than crispy seaweed and sweet and sour prawns, is undergoing something of a revolution. Restaurants specialising in regional Chinese cuisine, and not in the ubiquitous, greasy western version, are flourishing.

…there’s an ill-conceived presumption that all ingredients are imported from Asia, accumulating heinous food miles. But in reality, many restaurants will source produce locally simply because it is cheaper. “Without realising it, or advertising it, they [Chinese restaurants in England] will use a lot of locally sourced produce,” says Ching-He Huang, author of a contemporary Chinese cookbook, China Modern, and presenter of Ching’s Kitchen on UKTV Food.

While some Asian seasonings and vegetables cannot be sourced from within the UK, meat and fish are of course available here, and increasingly farmers are experimenting with growing Asian vegetables in the UK.

Read the full story.

 

From FT.com, by Robin Kwong in Hong Kong

A new wave of Chinese diaspora is set to create fresh markets for Chinese media across south-east Asia, North America and Europe, according to the chief executive of one of the world’s biggest Chinese-language publishers.

Francis Tiong, chief executive of Media Chinese International, which has a global circulation of more than 1m for its five daily newspapers, said there is a new wave of migration from China that is driven by the younger Chinese generation.

“The younger generation is increasingly being educated overseas, and despite many doing business in China, they are sending their families overseas . . . Increasingly you have cities with Chinese populations reaching 300,000-400,000, which I think warrants a Chinese language newspaper or media,” Mr Tiong told the Financial Times.

Read the full story.

 

Mike Wendland reports on Detriot Free Press about the new online game to help people to learn Chinese:

As the Olympics approach and China becomes even more dominant in the news, a Michigan State University professor has created an online video game that teaches Chinese culture and language.

Called Zon/New Chengo, (http://enterzon.com/), the multiplayer Web-based role-playing game was created by Yong Zhao, MSU distinguished professor of educational psychology and technology. A native of a poor, remote area of the Sichuan Province, he has become a highly influential researcher in Chinese education, bringing in more than $20 million in research to the university.

“Games are supposed to be fun and educational,” said Zhao.”This game offers a vicarious, virtual experience of China.”

The goal for the player is to fare well and advance socially and economically, with players moving from “tourists” to “residents” and finally to “citizens” of modern China. At the different stages, players encounter quests, have access to learning materials — including live Chinese tutors — and are able to organize and participate in social activities.

Read the full story.

 

Guardian’s Angelique Chrisafis reports from Paris:

This year Paris’s boutiques and tour firms have become the latest casualties of the diplomatic row surrounding the Olympic torch protests, as Chinese tourists boycott France as a holiday destination after warnings that it is unpatriotic.

Advice to Chinese tourists to stay away from France after pro-Tibet protests in Paris has been circulating on Chinese-language websites and has resulted in cancellations that tour operators in France say could lead to a 50% drop in business.

Read the full story.

 

From the organisers of the Wings of Life concert:

On the evening of 3rd June, a gala concert named as The Wings of Life was held in McEwan Hall, Edinburgh to raise fund for victims of the recent Chinese earthquakes. The performance was organised in chief by the General consulate of P.R. China in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The associative organisers included the Academy of Chinese National Musical Instruments, the Confucius Institute for Scotland and the Chinese Institute in Edinburgh. Highland Festival Media Co., Ltd in Scotland, Edinburgh Festival’s Chinese Co-ordinating Committee and D J Edinburgh Co., Ltd worked as deputy corporators. The show collected performances by some of the best Chinese artists available in Scotland. The zheng performer Yi Dong, initiator of this show and an economic graduate of Edinburgh University, was last November honoured as the first national music performer giving recital in the Great Hall of the People of China. Chinese students from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and other performers participated in the performance. Many Chinese communities, organisations of Chinese students and scholars and local bands in Scotland and Northern Ireland also joined the effort. A charity sale was held during the intervals of the performance.

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