Comings and Goings
According to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, 13,120 overseas Chinese came to free China for temporary visits or permanent settlement in 1964. A total of 7,458 Chinese received approval to settle abroad last year.
A breakdown of the returnees shows that 8,451 came for sightseeing, 1,660 to visit relatives, 656 for resettlement, 1,618 on business trips, 109 for cultural and educational activities, and the rest for other reasons.
Emigrants included 2,359 employed in foreign countries, 2,129 joining relatives abroad, 439 overseas students returning to their countries of domicile, and the rest leaving for other purposes.
Overseas Investment
The year registered a total of US$18,339,000 in overseas Chinese investments, an increase of 80 per cent over 1963.
Altogether 52 overseas Chinese business firms and plants were established, including chemicals, textiles, food processing, machinery and metal products, electric appliances, handicrafts, animal husbandry, and tourist enterprises.
The total of overseas Chinese investment in Taiwan is now about US$116,036,000.
Gifts From Abroad
Overseas Chinese donations in 1964 totaled US$226,323, of which US$46,100 was given to the armed forces, US$102,868 to relief, and US$77,355 for other purposes.
These donations were sent through the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. Those sent through other channels are not included in the total.
Korea
Chinese War Hero
Remains of Chiang Hui-lin, first Chinese soldier of the Korean army killed in action during the Korean war, were buried in the Korean armed forces cemetery near Seoul December 11.
Present were Korean Defense Minister Kim Song Un, Chinese Ambassador Liang Shu-chao, and overseas Chinese community leaders.
Chiang, a restaurant owner in Pyongyang, joined the First Division of the Republic of Korea Army together with other overseas Chinese. He was made deputy commander of a Chinese brigade of the division and gave his life in February of 1951.
Philippines
Trade Convention
The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce will host the third convention of Chinese traders of Asia July 16 to 18 in Manila.
The conference, originally scheduled for April, was postponed to mid-July to avoid conflict with the convention of Asian Chambers of Commerce in late February.
Hongkong
Training in Taiwan
Students educated in Taiwan have become a main source of professional talent for this British crown colony of nearly 4 million Chinese.
More than 1,000 Taiwan-educated scholars are teaching in some 1,400 schools of Hongkong, including about 20 colleges and 300 high schools. Some 200 others are working in banks.
Burma
No Admittance
The Chinese Communists have declined permission for Chinese in Burma to go to the Chinese mainland.
The Red "embassy" in Rangoon has imposed the ban since last November, claiming that an influx of overseas Chinese would disrupt Peiping's new five-year economic plan. The ban also applies to students seeking to enter mainland schools.
Burmese nationalization of alien properties has driven overseas Chinese out of business. Most of them want to leave the country.
Malaysia
Bank Closure
Finance Minister Tan Siew Sin announced that the Malaysian government had decided to close the Communist Bank of China in Singapore. He said, "We must accept that the Bank of China is controlled by a government which clearly is not friendly to this country."
However, both the Bank of China and the Kwangtung Provincial Bank belonging to Peiping were allowed to continue to operate under temporary licenses.
Operation of the Communist Bank of China has been a point of contention between the Malaysian central government and Singapore. The Singapore government asked that the bank be permitted to operate because of the city's trade with mainland China.
Tan rejected this argument, saying: "We buy more from Red China than it buys from us."
House of Dr. Sun
The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce has resolved to restore Wan Ching Yuan (Evening Sunshine Garden), a house where Dr. Sun Yat-sen once lived.
The two-story building served as the Kuomintang headquarters in Singapore during World War II. It became the property of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce at the time of the diplomatic break between Britain and the Republic of China.
The Chamber of Commerce has set up a committee to undertake restoration of the house.
'Blood Debt' Issue
The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce has welcomed Japan's decision to settle the Malaysian "blood debt" claim at an early date.
The Chamber has been spearheading a move to collect US$53.3 million in compensation for wartime Japanese atrocities in Malaysia.
Upon his return from Tokyo, Japanese Ambassador Furnihiko Kahi said that Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato wants to settle the claim as soon as possible.
The Japanese ambassador presented a new offer to Prime Minister Tenku Abdul Rahman. It was reported to include Japanese support for a university in Penang State.
Indonesia
Jail Sentences
Six Chinese were given jail sentences ranging from 7 to 12 years in the North Sumatra city of Medan on charges of conducting illegal trade with Malaysia.
The official news agency Antara called the six Chinese "Malaysian spies." Residents of Bagan Siapi-Api, 170 miles southeast of Medan, they were tried by a special tribunal on charges of "subversive activities."
France
Paris Celebration
Chinese residents of Paris gathered in the headquarters of the Chinese UNESCO delegation on New Year's Eve for an all-night celebration of the 54th anniversary of the Republic of China.
The gathering sent messages to President Chiang Kai-shek and Vice President Chen Cheng, pledging their unswerving loyalty.
Present at the party were Chinese community leaders and Chinese students from Tahiti, Reunion Island, Vietnam, Hongkong, and other areas.
England
Chinese Orphans
Four Chinese orphan girls from Hongkong were flown to London to meet their new parents. The girls ranged in age from 20 months to 6 years. Their adoption was arranged by the International Social Service.
Bernard Shearman, a farmer from St. Mary's Hoo, Kent, who adopted one of the girls, said: "I was in the Air Force in the Far East and I saw the plight of some of the children there."
United States
New Orleans Reunion
A Chinese couple, Sam Wong and Kuong Yew-sin, who had not seen each other in 30 years, were back together in New Orleans, thanks to red tape cutting by U.S. Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana.
Wong, whose father was born in the United States, went to the United States 30 years ago. He planned to send for his wife and two children as soon as he had enough money.
However, when he had saved enough, the U.S. consulate in Hongkong refused to recognize his citizenship. Wong finally turned to Long. The two children, a girl and a boy, are both married and have families of their own. Wong said he hoped to arrange their entry also.
Kennedy Architect
Leoh Ming Pei of New York, Chinese-born architect and city planner, was unanimously chosen by a panel of the world's leading designers as the architect for the US$6 million John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at Harvard University.
Colleagues describe Pei as serious, dignified, and "a very disciplined architect with an evolutionary rather than revolutionary style."
The 47-year-old Pei, born in Canton, attended St. John's Middle School in Shanghai and went to the United States in 1935 to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his master's degree in architecture at Harvard.
China House Anniversary
Artists, diplomats, and friends of China celebrated the 20th anniversary of China House, home of the China Institute in America, on December 7.
Chinese musicians played. Three Chinese artists presented exhibitions of paintings and ceramics. Dr. Chih Meng, president, and Henry Luce, chairman of the Institute, were present. Luce spoke of the "fabulous progress" of the Republic of China that he observed during his recent visit to Taiwan.