CHineseINK

The Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Chinese Association organised a dinner at the Grand Century Restaurant to raise funds towards the Dragon Sculpture to be donated to the NZ Olympic Team and after the Games, to be left on permanent display in Beijing.

The dinner was attended by 170 people including Wellington Branch Committee, Members and their friends; representative from the Tung Jung, Seyip and Poon Fah Associations, the NZ China Friendship Society, the China & New Zealand Business Council, Asian Magazine, Robyn Wong and two tables of sports friends, and the staff of the Embassy.

Distinguished guests included the Deputy-Mayor Ian McKinnon, the Ambassador HE Zhang Yuanyuan, the NZ Olympics chef de mission Dave Currie. Also present unofficially were the Secretary of Defence and former NZ Ambassador to China John McKinnon, historian Dr Malcolm McKinnon and the sculptor for the Dragon Guy Ngan.

The restaurant was decorated with Olympic banners, and film clips showing the Olympic venues and preparations in Beijing and the preparation of the NZ athletes were projected.

The event included raffles and auctions for which the Embassy donated many items of Olympic merchandise and memorabilia, the China & New Zealand Business Council art and souvenir items, Guy Ngan a large number of designer tee-shirts, Ron Sang an art book and the NZ Olympic Committee vouchers for two Olympic jackets to be signed by New Zealand’s medallists. The event raised over $8500.

The event ended on a up-beat note and apart from the funds raised, the event likely enhanced the relationships between the Wellington Branch and other Chinese organisations in Wellington, the Wellington City Council, government officials, the Chinese Embassy and of course the NZ Olympic Committee and its sportsmen and women.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.