Committee of 100 Applauds "Becoming American – The Chinese Experience" As A Landmark Event

April 2, 2003
By Nissara Horayangura

The Committee of 100, a national non-partisan organization composed of prominent Chinese Americans, salutes the work of Bill Moyers and his team at Public Broadcasting Systems for their groundbreaking documentary, "Becoming American – The Chinese Experience." Funded entirely by private individuals, foundations and corporations, the story it tells is a testament to the struggle of so many of our ancestors, and we applaud Moyers and his team for taking on such a compelling theme.

"Bill Moyers is a first-rate story teller. He helps to deliver the many facets of the complexity of life among Chinese Americans to our fellow Americans" said Bob Lee, Chairman of the Committee of 100. "He has produced a masterpiece that enables all of us – regardless of our heritage, whether we are a Chinese-American, Jewish-American, Irish-American, African-American or from anywhere else – to expand our horizons."

The program, which aired on PBS stations across the country on successive nights, March 25-27, narrates how two cultures have clashed, and come together – a story largely left out of history books. The Committee of 100 looks forward to the dialogue the series is bound to provoke.

Either personally, through their companies, or through family philanthropic foundations, many members of the Committee of 100 contributed to the cost of the production. Among them were Walter and Shirley Wang, Sit Investment Associates and Sit Investment Foundation, The Kelvin Foundation (Albert Yu and Mary Bechmann), The Tang Fund, Gina and David Chu — Nautica International, Intel Corporation and Sybase, Inc.