Remarks by Consul General Zhang Ping at the Chinese Lunar New Year Reception

by admin · Published February 13, 2018 · Updated February 13, 2018

(Feb.12,2018 Los Angeles /Universal City)

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen, friends

Good evening

The Year of Golden Rooster is bidding farewell and the Year of Dog is heading toward us along with the spring. My wife and I are very pleased to join our friends to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of Dog. First of all, please allow me to extend, on behalf of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, new year greetings and best wishes to all our distinguished guests present here and, through you, to all the friends of different walks of life in our consular district. members of Chinese community, staff of the Chinese enterprises and Chinese students,wishing everyone great family happiness and all the success in the coming new year.

The Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important traditional festival for Chinese people. It bears our aspirations for a better life and pursuit for harmony, reunion, happiness, peace and prosperity. These values that are embedded in the Chinese culture are well received throughout the world and the Spring Festival has become a much celebrated event in many countries.

The Spring Festival is a festival of joy. These days, whether you walk along the streets of Beverly Hills or wander around the old and new Chinatown, you will feel the strong atmosphere of Chinese New Year. With the Spring Festival getting closer, various celebration activities are being held in many places in Southern California. The Chinese community has entered a busy season for Gala events and cultural performances. The arrival of art troupes from China has brought extra joy to the Festival.

Tonight we have the honor to invite the Art Troupe of the Affiliated High School of Renmin University of China to present us a few performances. They are currently on tour here for the Happy Chinese New Year celebration. let’s give them a warm welcome.

The Spring Festival is a festival of celebration. We have much to celebrate. Last year, the Chinese Communist Party successfully convened its 19th Congress, drawing a grand blueprint for china’s future development,embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country. china’s development has entered into a new era. Last year, China has achieved a 6.9%o GDP growth with the total volume exceeding 80 trillion RMB Yuan(2.7 trillion u.s. dollars), injecting strong impetus to the growth of global economy. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries,china-u.S relations remained stable on the whole and achieved positive progress. Economic and trade cooperation, people to people exchanges between China and Southern California saw further development. Then umber of Chinese tourist arrivals in Los Angeles reached 1.1 million. All this deserves our congratulation.

The Spring Festival is a festival of reunion. We reunite with our family members and friends, enjoying the kinship and friendship. We work with our friends and community to promote the peaceful reunification of China,hoping to realize the big family reunion of the Chinese nation at an early date. We stay on the path of peaceful development, pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up and make an earnest effort to work with the international community to build a community of shared future for mankind, with the aim to achieve unity, harmony and common prosperity for the world family.

The Spring Festival is a festival of thanksgiving. We thank our families and friends for their love and care. We never forget what our friends in our consular district, especially the friends from Chinese community have contributed to the success of china’s reform and opening up and to the exchange and cooperation between our two countries. Your attention and support to the development of china-us relations, and your kind assistance to the work of our consulate has given us greater motivation and confidence to do a better job. We believe, with the help and support from you all,the china-u.S. relations will overcome various differences and embrace an even brighter future

The Spring Festival is a festival of blessings. We wish our families and friends great happiness, good health and good fortune. We wish greater prosperity for our respective country, and well being of our people. We wish the friendship between our two peoples would last forever, china-us relations would make steady progress and the sub national cooperation would bear new fruits in this new year, believing that friendship and cooperation would bring more positive energy to china-u. S. relations,peace and prosperity would be the main theme in the development of mankind. Let ‘s join our hands to embrace this promising new year.Again, Happy Chinese New Year to everyone. Thank you.