By David Li, bostonese.com
In the afternoon and evening of January 28, the 2012 New England Chinese professionals’ Chinese New Year Gala and Community Forums were held in the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham, MA. More than 500 medical, IT, finance and accounting, legal, education and scientific research Chinese professionals, entrepreneurs and distinguished guests attended the event to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Dragon. The high-level positions held by many attendees, high-quality community forum and wonderful performances after the banquet, reflecting that the Chinese professional associations of the New England region with unity, cooperation and service to the community, have become a political and economic force to be reckoned with.
In the community forums in the afternoon, entrepreneurial career development, health and bio-medical research topics attracted large number of professionals to take part. In the trade and investment booth just outside the meeting room where forum was going on, Mr. Cunhui Yang of Great Wall Financial Group told reporter that he was very pleased to have the opportunity to meet so many Chinese professionals, and the Gala provided him an platform to introduce financial services by his company to the professionals.
| Banquet and evening performances started at 7 PM in the grand ballroom. The dinner was hosted by Dr. Zhihong Chen, president of the Chinese American Bio-medical Association and KPMG partner, Ms. Pauline Mak. They began by thanking Senator Scott Brown for his part in the unanimously passage of bill 201 in US Senate last year to apologize to Chinese Americans for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.Senator Brown thanked the hosts for once again inviting him to attend this year’s Chinese New Year Gala, and called on participants to call their Congressman to support bill 201 so that it could pass in the House of Representatives, and then to be signed by President Obama and become law of the land. |
In his speech to the attendees, the Deputy Consul General Dong Xiaojun from Consulate General of China in New York said:”I express my warmest Chinese New Year greetings to you all. In 2011, China achieved GDP growth of 9.2%, and all other aspects have also contributed to develop. China’s development and growth have contributed to global financial stability and world peace. China’s success is inseparable from the support of overseas Chinese. Chinese professional associations have made significant contribution in promoting economical and cultural exchange between US and China.”
Other government officials including Massachusetts Treasury Steve Grossman, Connecticut State Rep. William Tong, Cambridge City Council Leland Cheung also expressed their warm wishes to Gala attendees.
| Tong began his speech using fluent Mandarin Chinese. He mentioned that his father immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, work in Connecticut, a restaurant called Hong Kong Kitchen. “It is because of my father’s hard work, I can stand at this stage today.” Tong said. He hoped that Chinese professionals support his candidacy to become first Asian American US Senator in the continental United States.Tong told reporter that Senate seat became open when Joe Lieberman announced his retirement early last year. Usually, an open Senate seat attracts many candidates. |
New England Chinese Information Network Association of the Daryl Luk read congratulatory letters from Massachusetts Governor Patrick, US Senator John Kelly and Congressman Michael Capuano.
During the banquet, the Angel Team consisted of 14 children stopped by each table to sell rose for $5 each to raise money for cancer research. Love of children for the day’s celebrations add a lot of glory.
After the dinner, bilingual host of the Shanghai World Expo Ai Cheng hosted a wonderful performances. In his 70s, Zhang Zhao’s Peking Opera performances with deep vocals got thunderous applause from audience. Renowned guzheng performer Weng Hui, the young dancer officer Shan, Liu Yi, Fudan University graduate Meiyi Li were among other performers. After 8 hours, the day-long celebration came to a close when Wang Jie lead a choir of the song “Tomorrow will be better.”
Professional organizations that jointly organized the gala include North America Chinese Medical Association (ACMA), BayHelix Association, the Chinese American Biol-Medical Association (CABA), Sino-US Intellectual Property Law Association (CAIPLA), 128 Chinese Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Association (128 CUTE,), Massachusetts Hong Kong Association (HKAMA,), the MIT Chinese Institute of Technology (MIT CAST), the MIT Economy and Talent Forum (MIT ETF), the New England Chinese Information Network Association (NECINA), the Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association (OCEAN) New England Financial and accounting Pan-Asian leaders will (ASCEND-NE), the Americas Chinese Biological Sciences Association (SCBA), the National Chinese Finance Association (TCFA), Boston Chinese Alumni Federation (BCAAC).