Current location:politics >>
Immigrant's $1.3B Powerball win spotlights the Iu Mien community
politics5People have gathered around
IntroductionSALEM, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with ...
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for $1.3 billion above his head.
The 46-year-old immigrant’s luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month — a lump sum payment of $422 million after taxes, which he and his wife will split with a friend — has changed his life. It also raised awareness about Iu Mien people, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.
“I am born in Laos, but I am not Laotian,” Saephan told a news conference Monday at Oregon Lottery headquarters, where his identity as one of the jackpot’s winners was revealed. “I am Iu Mien.”
During the Vietnam War, the CIA and U.S. military recruited Iu Mien in neighboring Laos, many of them subsistence farmers, to engage in guerrilla warfare and to provide intelligence and surveillance to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail that the North Vietnamese used to send troops and weapons through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Global Gateway news portal”。http://reunion.montreal-intl.com/article-12f299748.html
Related articles
Retired general Pavel wins Czech presidential election
politicsPresidential candidate, retired general Petr Pavel, leaves a polling station in the village of Cerno ...
【politics】
Read moreTiger Woods hints at an end to bitter PGA
politicsTiger Woods believes peace has moved closer in the war that has shaken golf to its core.The five-tim ...
【politics】
Read moreChinese chess competition held in Lebanon
politics(Xinhua) 10:50, September 11, 2023Participants compete during the Lebanese-Chinese XiangQi Friendshi ...
【politics】
Read more
Popular articles
- UN urges trillions in investments to salvage global goals
- Excessive nitrogen fertilizer yields less attractive apples: research
- Monster Georgia father is sentenced to 50 years in prison for poisoning his 18
- Chinese researchers uncover secrets behind adult fireflies' light organs
- CPPCC National Committee Holds Gathering to Ring in New Year, Xi Jinping Delivers Important Speech
- It's almost April 15. Here's how to reduce stress and get your taxes done
Latest articles
UNGA president advocates for sustainability in daily life
The NBA play
China's Mars rover detects irregular wedges beneath red planet
Tiger Woods hints at an end to bitter PGA
More countries to participate in 4th China International Consumer Products Expo
Tourism boom promotes revitalization of intangible cultural heritage
LINKS
- Family Farms Inject Vitality into Agriculture
- Striving for a Better Future
- Lost in Love Song Melody, Scenery in Kangding
- Bringing Traditional Chinese Opera to Wider Audience
- All England Open: Defending champ Li falls in opener
- All England Open: Defending champ Li falls in opener
- Libo: 'Emerald on the Earth's Belt'
- Giving Children Love, Nature
- Working Hard During Golden Time
- Lost in Love Song Melody, Scenery in Kangding