China Millennium Council President Mary Ho, Pulitzer Prize Award Winning Journalist José Antonio Vargas and ROC the film Entrepreneur Tom Crane at the University of Rochester Diversity Conference Discuss Social Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for a Modern America #EmergingUS #DefineAmerican
China Millennium Council President Mary Ho and International Award Winning Documentary Lost Years Fillmmaker Kenda Gee Discuss the Vast and Diverse Diaspora of Chinese Extending to U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand including Europe and the African continent.
LOST YEARS: A PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE is an international award winning epic documentary tracing back over 150 years of the Chinese diaspora covering four generations of racism as revealed through the journey and family story of Chinese Canadian filmmaker Kenda Gee. Traveling with his father Took Gee, they return to China and retrace the path of his grandfather, who sailed to Canada in the summer of 1921, and even earlier over a century ago, his great grandfather. A journey of hope for a myriad of Chinese who quickly encountered discriminatory laws including the head tax levied on new Chinese immigrants to Canada which ultimately deprived them of their rights as citizens. The story begins with the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 20th century China circa 1911 towards the end of World War II, recounting painful decades of anti-Chinese racial prejudice in North America. Extending from Vancouver Island and Angel Island, Gee’s journey takes him across Canada and America, retracing the footsteps and experiences of the Chinese immigrants and their modern day descendants. A moving account of their personal stories capture the enormous hardships and obstacles they overcame in order to obtain citizenship in their own new countries of birth and acceptance in a modern diverse global society. www.lostyears.ca
China Millennium Council President Mary Ho and New York State Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Discuss the White House Initiative on Asian American Pacific Islanders WHI-AAPI Vital Business Presence and Issues Concerning AAPI involvement with the Upstate New York Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council and Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2015 New York Opportunity Agenda. AAPIs are the fastest growing minority group in America with enormous consumer impact, yet under-represented and overlooked in areas of leadership and governance.
City of Rochester Office of the Mayor, Del Smith, Commissioner of Neighborhood & Business Development, Mary Ho, China Millennium Council President and Ken Sato, City Design Lab CEO Review Submission Proposal for Urban Revitalization to boost Upstate New York's economic opportunity to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, strengthen communities and enhance tourism and quality of life. Sato is a city resident and operates an urban fermentory business.
Beijing Hualian Group BHG Chairman Ji Xiao An and China Millennium Council President Mary Ho Discuss the Importance of Global Innovation in the Ever-Evolving Consumer Retail Marketplace and Business Enterprise Development at the Wegmans Food Market Flagship Store in Pittsford, New York, USA
Wegmans Food Market flagship store in Pittsford New York recently launched a series of healthy home-style Chinese foods in collaboration with China’s leading hypermarket retail enterprise, the Beijing Hualian Group Investment Holding Co., LTD. BHG Chairman Ji Xiao An and his innovation team led by Frank Ji oversaw the development and training of Chinese culinary dishes for the chefs at Wegmans. Ready to eat foods emphasize authentic, nutritious and tasty dishes including Shiitake Mushroom Congée, Sichuan Style Dandan Noodles and Chinese Barbequed Pork. Catering to the ever-growing international palate of Wegman’s customers, their newly renovated Asian foods pantry now stock a wide variety of fresh Chinese youchoy and bokchoy greens, Daikon icicle radishes and select varieties of bulk long-grain and short grain rice.
BHG Beijing Hualian Group Investment Holding Co.,Ltd. is a leading multinational global enterprise as one of the 15 largest retail enterprises supported by the China Ministry of Commerce including primary membership in the International Association of Department Stores (IADS), and two publicly listed companies and several holding companies. BHG Group’s business is focused on hypermarkets, supermarkets, department stores and commercial properties. BHG is established in more than 80 hypermarkets in 35 key cities and 23 provinces across China and the Pacific Rim countries. The Beijing Hualian Group values customers first and foremost. Their core business principles include integrity in all relationships — with employees, customers, suppliers and cooperating partners. “We seek to maintain and grow our company’s high recognition and reputation, and made “Beijing Hualian” a prestigious brand in the country” and now earmarked as a prestige global brand.
China is now the fastest growing global economy, ranked second only to the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. The new visa accord established between U.S and China will enhance trade, investment, and business ties by facilitating travel and ease access to both economies. Extended validity visas for students and exchange visitors will foster the bonds between U.S. and China and facilitate travel for outstanding students from around the world who attend U.S. institutions of higher education. As a result of this arrangement, the U.S. hopes to welcome a growing share of eligible Chinese travelers, inject billions in the U.S. economy and create demand to support hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs. Global growth of outbound travel from China represents an unprecedented opportunity to foster job creation across the country. China is the fastest growing outbound tourism market in the world, and Chinese visitors have accounted for 20 percent of the growth in overseas travel to the U.S. As incomes in China continue to rise, the number of Chinese citizens able to afford international travel and tourism is projected to more than double over the next few years, reaching the hundreds of millions. Close to 7.3 million Chinese are projected to travel to the U.S. by 2021, contributing nearly $85 billion a year to the economy and supporting 440,000 jobs.
China's leading retail business conglomerate the BHG Beijing Hualian Hypermarket Delegation Visits Wegman's Iconic American Flagship Pittsford Store and are welcomed by Mary Ho, President of the China Millennium Council, H. Oliver Hamlin IV, Greater Rochester Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Delegate and Larry Damore, Senior Vice President of Wegmans Food Markets headquartered in Upstate Rochester, New York.
U.S. President Obama traveled to China and met with China President Xi Jinping to effect a reciprocal visa validity arrangement to broaden and fortify economic and people-to-people ties. Both countries mutually agreed to increase the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to each other’s citizens from one to ten years – the longest validity possible under U.S. law – and increase the validity of student and exchange visas from one to five years. The U.S began issuing visas in accordance with the new reciprocal agreement on November 12, 2014. The visa accord will enhance trade, investment, and business ties by facilitating travel and ease access to both economies. Extended validity visas for students and exchange visitors will foster the bonds between U.S. and China and facilitate travel for outstanding students from around the world who attend U.S. institutions of higher education. As a result of this arrangement, the U.S. hopes to welcome a growing share of eligible Chinese travelers, inject billions in the U.S. economy and create demand to support hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs.
Welcoming a Growing Share of Chinese Travelers
Strengthening Bonds Between Chinese and American Students
Extending Visa Validity to Increase the Number of Chinese Travelers Coming to the U.S. and Support American Jobs. In order to support America’s most important and largest services export – tourism. Chinese travelers persistently rank the U.S. as their top desired travel destination, but only slightly more than 1.8 percent of total outbound travelers go to the U.S. Chinese travelers cite ease of visa policies as the second most important factor in deciding where to travel, behind only cost. A competitive visa policy is needed to secure the U.S. as the chosen destination for millions of Chinese travelers
Global growth of outbound travel from China represents an unprecedented opportunity to foster job creation across the country. China is the fastest growing outbound tourism market in the world, and Chinese visitors have accounted for 20 percent of the growth in overseas travel to the U.S. since 2008. In 2013, 1.8 million Chinese travelers visited the U.S., contributing $21.1 billion to the American economy and supporting more than 109,000 U.S. jobs. As incomes in China continue to rise, the number of Chinese citizens able to afford international travel and tourism is projected to more than double over the next few years, reaching the hundreds of millions. Close to 7.3 million Chinese are projected to travel to the U.S. by 2021, contributing nearly $85 billion a year to the economy and supporting 440,000 jobs.
Increasing business travel will support the U.S. President’s goal of increasing exports. Increasing visa validity for U.S. citizens traveling to China makes it easier to respond to market and commercial opportunities in China, helping to boost U.S. exports, foster increased trade ties, and improve commercial linkages between U.S. and Chinese firms. In the near term, extending visa validity for Chinese business travelers will also help meet the President’s Select USA goal of boosting inward investment into the United States as the U.S. travel and tourism industry commits to making upfront investments in new hotels and other infrastructure in anticipation of a rise in Chinese inbound travel.