CBNSA held its annual Chinese New Year Celebrations with a dinner on the first lunar day of the Rooster Year, the 28th of January 2017 at the San Giorgio La Molara Community Centre along Payneham Road. Near 300 guests attended the dinner with the following guest-of-honours joining us in the celebrations:
- Hon. Martin Hamilton Smith, Minister for Investment and Trade | Minister for Small Business | Minister for Defence Industries | Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
- Mr. Richard Mei, Acting Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Adelaide
- Rt. Hon. Martin Haese, Lord Mayor of Adelaide
The evening started with guests flooding into the hall with the Chinese Orchestra playing classical and familiar Chinese tunes. We had scheduled for the event to start at 7.30pm and were glad that our guests were early for a on-time start. Kudos to all guests!
Our Masters of Ceremony kicked off the Dinner with speeches from Simon Hou, the President of CBNSA; followed by the Guest-of-Honours, whom shared their views of their visions for South Australia and the Chinese Community in South Australia. Thanks for the speeches, despite them coming in between the first course served.
Besides the good food, the guests were presented with a series of entertainment:
From the traditional Face-Changing act
To the all time favourite and MUST-HAVE Lion Dance for Chinese New Year Events
We also took the opportunity to invite Andrew Hunter (Port Adelaide FootBall Club’s China and government relations general manager) to share and introduce the very first Chinese Footy player from China to be signed up by Port Adelaide, Chen Shao Ling. Let’s look forward to seeing him play on AFL in the coming season
Followed by a show by the Magician on stage and on the floor. Not forgetting also the fantastic band who played for the guests throughout the night.
We hope you have enjoyed the night, the food, the entertainment, and most importantly, the company of friends and associates on this special occasion. See you again in the 2018 CNY event.