Chinese New Year Celebration Reception in the Parliament
On 23rd January, 2012, the Confucius Institute for Business London (CIBL) of the London School of Economics (LSE) and The Lord Wei of Shoreditch, who is a student of CIBL, co-hosted the Chinese New Year Celebration Reception at the Parliament. This reception was the first Chinese cultural event that CIBL has held in the House of Lords.
The reception was very well attended by over 200 invited guests from the political, business, cultural, academic circles and the media in the UK. Several distinguished figures gave speeches at the beginning of the reception, including Lord Wei, Chinese Minister, Counsellor for Education, Mr Xiaogang Tian, CEO of China Britain Business Council, Mr Stephen Philips and the Director of CIBL, Mr Nick Byrne. They recalled their pleasant exchanges and cooperation with CIBL and spoke highly of the important role that CIBL has been playing in promoting the mutual understanding between UK and China. Meanwhile, the past and future of Sino-UK relations, especially the economic and trade relations were highlighted during the speeches.
On the whole, the event gave the guests from the UK and China a valuable opportunity to better understand each other, to seek and build cooperative relationships, and most of all, to enjoy the festive joy of the Chinese New Year. Guests left with a better recognition of what CIBL is doing and many of them expressed a strong interest in learning Chinese with CIBL or joining the future events. (CIBL Mengjie Zhao Chen Shu)