The Asian reporter., October 05, 2015, Page Page 8, Image 8

U.S.A.
Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
October 5, 2015
First ladies reveal panda cub name: Bei Bei
COMMON BOND. First lady Michelle Obama,
right, and China’s first lady Peng Liyuan, left, reveal
the name of the panda born on August 22 at the
Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington to Mei
Xiang, during a recent visit to the zoo in Washington.
The name is Bei Bei, which means “precious trea-
sure.” It was chosen by both the Chinese and Ameri-
can first ladies. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
By Darlene Superville
The Associated Press
ASHINGTON — Washington’s
newest giant panda cub is
nameless no more. Call him Bei
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Bei.
Michelle Obama and her Chinese
counterpart, Peng Liyuan, revealed the
name during a tour of the panda house at
the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Bei Bei means “precious treasure” and is
pronounced “bay bay.” It complements his
two-year-old sister’s name, Bao Bao.
The first ladies chose the name and
untied a pair of yellow scrolls to reveal it in
both English and Mandarin Chinese, with
help from two third-graders from a
Chinese-immersion elementary school in
the nation’s capital. Just before revealing
the name, the spouses watched Bei Bei get
a medical checkup.
The zoo is a favorite of her family, Mrs.
Obama told the audience of American,
Chinese, and Smithsonian officials.
“My daughter, Malia, has done several
internships here and comes here often,
even though you don’t know it. She is a
fan,” the first lady said. “She can now
operate under cover, so she comes and goes
and you don’t even know it. We are grateful
for everything you do to make this a
national treasure.”
Bei Bei, who turned five weeks old and
weighs about three pounds, is the survivor
of a pair of twins born August 22 to Mei
Xiang. The second cub died four days after
its birth.
With the cub, the zoo has four pandas for
the first time, including Tian Tian, the
father of Bao Bao and Bei Bei.
Panda keepers at the National Zoo and
at the China Conservation and Research
Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong,
Sichuan Province, each contributed one
name for consideration. Bei Bei was
submitted by the Chinese. The cub will be
sent to China to live after he turns four
years old.
Peng spoke of the affection Americans
have for pandas and quoted Mrs. Obama
for having said the bears serve as a
common bond between two countries that
disagree sharply on other issues.
“We do need more bonds to bring the
people of our two countries ever more
closer,” Peng said through an interpreter.
“And I think giant pandas are exactly one
of those bonds that we can celebrate to
achieve that goal.”
China gave a pair of giant pandas to the
National Zoo in 1972 following President
Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to
the Asian country. Ling-Ling and Hsing-
Hsing lived out their lives at the zoo. The
current pair of adult pandas, Mei Xiang
and Tian Tian, arrived in 2000.
Another of the couple’s surviving cubs,
Tai Shan, lives in China.
Before the announcement, Tian Tian
and Bao Bao appeared in their outdoor
yards, with Bao Bao thrilling the audience
by toppling a panda-friendly frozen cake
set out for her as a treat.
Bei Bei likely won’t appear in public
before early 2016.
Study projects Asians will become largest U.S. immigrant group in 2055
By Jesse J. Holland
The Associated Press
ASHINGTON — In a major shift in immigra-
tion patterns over the next 50 years, Asians will
have surged past Hispanics to become the
largest group of immigrants heading to the United States,
according to estimates in a new immigration study.
The study looks in detail at what will happen by 2065,
but the actual tipping point comes in 2055.
An increase in Asian and Hispanic immigration also
will drive U.S. population growth, with foreign-born
residents expected to make up 18 percent of the country’s
projected 441 million people in 50 years, the Pew Research
Center said in a report. This will be a record, higher than
the nearly 15 percent during the late 19th-century and
early 20th-century wave of immigration from Europe.
Today, immigrants make up 14 percent of the
population, an increase from five percent in 1965.
The actual change is expected to come in 2055, when
Asians will become the largest immigrant group at 36
percent, compared with Hispanics at 34 percent. White
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CHICAGO (AP) — Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy
Guthrie fondly remembers those days growing up in
Oregon — riding his bike all around Roseburg, going to
the local swimming pool, and cheering on the basketball
team at Umpqua Community College.
All those memories came flooding back after a gunman
opened fire at the school on Thursday, October 1, killing at
least nine people before dying in a shootout with police.
“It’s a very small community,” Guthrie said of the town
where he was born and lived until he was 12. “My mom
spent time there. I don’t remember — I was so young — if
she was going to school there or if she was helping out
there, but my brothers and I used to go swimming there at
the swimming pool that you can see in those aerial photos.
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level: Easy
# 12
#42174
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last week’s
puzzle
Puzzle #38296 (Hard)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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“Hispanic population growth is coming from people
born here in the United States,” he said. “It is really U.S.
births that are now the driver of Hispanic population
growth, and that’s a recent change from what we saw in
the ’80s and ’90s.”
By 2065, no racial or ethnic group will hold a majority in
the United States, with whites holding 46 percent of the
population, Hispanics at 24 percent, Asians at 14 percent,
and blacks at 13 percent. Currently, the country is 62
percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, 12 percent black, and
six percent Asian.
Pew also asked Americans surveyed for one word to de-
scribe immigrants in the U.S. today. Twelve percent said
“illegal,” “overpopulation” was at five percent, “legality
(other than illegal)” at four percent, and “jobs,” “deporta-
tion,” “Americans,” and “work ethic” at three percent each.
Forty-nine percent offered general descriptions, and of
those, 12 percent were positive, 11 percent negative, and
26 percent neutral, according to the report.
Americans also said immigrants are likely to make the
United States better, with 45 percent agreeing with that
statement and 37 percent saying they make the country
worse. Eighteen said they don’t have much of an effect one
way or the other.
The survey was conducted online from March 10 to
April 6, 2015. The survey’s margin of sampling error is
plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Jesse J. Holland covers race, ethnicity, and
demographics for The Associated Press.
Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie recalls growing up in Oregon town rocked by shooting
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immigrants to America, 80 percent back in 1965, will
hover somewhere between 18 and 20 percent, with black
immigrants in the range of eight percent to nine percent,
the study said.
Currently, 47 percent of immigrants living in the
United States are Hispanic, but by 2065 that number will
have dropped to 31 percent. Asians currently make up 26
percent of the immigrant population, but in 50 years that
percentage is expected to increase to 38 percent.
Pew researchers analyzed a combination of Census
Bureau information and its own data to develop its
projections.
Part of the reason for the shift is that the fertility rate of
women in Latin America and especially Mexico has
decreased, said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s director of
Hispanic research. In Mexico, Lopez said, women are now
having around two children, when back in the 1960s and
1970s, they were having about seven children per woman.
“There are relatively fewer people who would choose to
migrate from Mexico so demographic changes in Mexico
have led to a somewhat smaller pool of potential
migrants,” he said. “At the same time we’ve seen a
growing number of immigrants, particularly from China
or India, who are coming for reasons such as pursuing a
college degree or coming here to work temporarily in the
high-tech sector.”
Despite the increase in Asian immigrants, Hispanics
will still make up a larger number actually living inside
the United States, Lopez said.
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We used to watch basketball games there for the local
team.”
“So we spent a lot of time there and it’s part of the
community. I’m sure they’re going through a lot of pain.
I’m sure a lot of people and families are connected to some
of the victims,” he said.
Guthrie’s father sold cars in the Roseburg area for about
20 years, and the left-hander said he still has several
aunts, uncles, and cousins in the region about 180 miles
south of Portland. He stayed in Oregon after he moved and
visited his hometown often for sporting events.
He said he heard about the mass shooting when an old
friend sent him a text message to express his sadness.
“You keep them in your prayers and just hope that at
some point in time, we, as a society, and as people, can
learn to cope with struggles and difficulties and
challenges in our lives in a different way,” Guthrie said
before the Royals played the Chicago White Sox.
“We obviously all have the ability to go out and do harm,
whether it’s with a gun or whether it’s through other
forms of violence, that’s never the answer,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many people resort to that
in recent times. All of us go through struggles; all of us
have our challenges. Maybe we can show a little more love
and compassion to those who are going through other
things. Hopefully the end result is that we can stop having
to witness these types of tragedies.”