The 17th CCSA Vancouver Spring Festival Gala and The 70th Anniversary of the founding of China Cele
(By YuLe; photos by Phoebe, Lao-He, Shu-Guang, Liang-Deng, WS Media, etc.）
Sponsored by the Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA), the 17thCCSA Vancouver Spring Festival Gala and the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China Celebration were held on January 20, 2019 at the Floata Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver.
Thousands of people attended this wonderful event including Canadian government representatives, community organization representatives, business elites, culture and art representatives and many more.
There were 29 honoured guests attended this event including Xiaoling Tong, Consul General of Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Vancouver, vice Consul General Wang Chengjun, Consul Hu Qiquan, and Consul Wang Jin; Canadian three-level government representatives including Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh; MP Jenny Kuan; Bruce Ralston,Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology; George Chow, Minister of State for Trade; MLA Katrina Chen; MLA Anne Kang; MLA Michael Lee; City Councillor James Wang, Chak Au, Tina Hu and more.
Harris Niu, the president of CCSA, gave the welcome speech. He emphasized
that the annual Spring Festival Gala is an event celebrating with people of all ethnic groups with distinctive Chinese traditional cultural elements in Canada, a country that promotes multiculturalism. He summarized the main activities held by CCSA for the past year including Vancouver Marathon, the Chinese Heritage Cultural Festival, CCSA Youth Star Awards and more. CCSA directors and members have been actively participating in the charity of Canada and China. It has exceeded tens of millions of Canadian dollars and have been making positive contributions to the communities in China and Canada. He also wished the prosperity of the People's Republic of China with its 70th anniversary in 2019.
Tong Xiaoling praised CCSA for making an important contribution to promote the development of the local Chinese community and enhance the friendly exchanges between China and Canada. She especially emphasized China's economic achievements. China's GDP exceeded 90 trillion yuan for the first time (about 17.6 trillion Canadian dollars), which increased by 6.6%. Among China's foreign investment, 70% was from Overseas Chinese. Overseas Chinese have made tremendous contributions to China's economic growth. She sent best wishes to continue developing China-Canada relations in the new year and expressed sincere New Year wishes to everyone.
Jagmeet Singh and Jenny Kuan sent their thanks to CCSA for creating access to resources for the Chinese community to live in full potential, their thanks to CCSA for the contribution to the Chinese community and the local communities. All Canadians should recognize such a wonderful organization. They thought it was very important to have a strong relationship with Chinese community, to have a strong relationship with China, and to continue to build our friendship. They wished everyone a happy new year and also sent their appreciation to the volunteers and staff behind the scenes.
MLAs Bruce Ralston, George Chow, Katrina Chen, Anne Kang and Michael Lee; city councillors James Wong, Chak Au and Tina Hu also sent everyone their best new year wishes. They emphasized that it is important to recognize the leadership CCSA provides to our community, it’s about service; each and every one of us by being there at the event was to support the development and the ongoing activities of CCSA, expressing our important focus that to continue to have a strong and healthy relationship with China.
Junzuo Yu, the honourable Chairman of the 17th CCSA Vancouver Spring Festival Gala and the 70th Anniversary of the founding of China Celebration, thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the event and wished everyone a very happy New Year. He reported that the CCSA has 130 board of directors and nearly 20,000 members currently. Since the establishment, CCSA has been promoting the role of bridges and ties, and has made tremendous contributions to the promotion of Chinese culture and the deepening of China-Canada friendship. The Co-chairs Hong Xu, Yan Wang, Yu Chang, Guangtong Wang, Shuguo Zhou and Hua Wang also made a speech on the stage, wishing everyone all the best in the Year of the Pig.
This annual event has another highlight, which is to recognize those who have been making outstanding contributions to the community. For this year the awards went to Zili Wu, Kenny Jungang Gu, Victor Tianlu Song, Yu Chang, Lu Cheng, Quan Gu, Sophia Xinyuan Zhang, Bonnie Yun Chen and Andy Tinglu Wang.
This event combined songs and dances with banquet. The performances included gold-winning ones at home and abroad; the actors included famous local and overseas film and television stars, Korean dancers, Filipino dancers, as well as some recipients of “The CCSA Star Youth Awards” and many more.
The lucky draw and the old song Friends, were played on the finale by some of CCSA board of directors, which set off the emotional arrogance of the audience. The four famous hosts Tong Wu, Bonnie Yun Chen, Julie Lu and Patrick Lynch all wore festive costumes, with laughter, smiles and joy, everyone enjoyed their time there.
Director Ti Liu talked about the two major features of the event performances. One was the diverse performers including Chinese popular young actors, local outstanding actors and foreign ethnic groups; another one was the stage scene including the lighting matched well with the theme of traditional Chinese Spring Festival. These were also the places where the cast members, volunteers and the on-site audience felt the most touching of this "Chinese traditional culture banquet."
Thanks for the live news by Sing Tao Daily, Ming Pao, Dahua News, VanSky, Phoenix Canada, Overseas Chinese Voice Radio, WOW TV Canada West, City Post, Focus Media, BC Bay, Canada So, Chinese Canadian Film and TV and more.
Canadian Community Service Association
The Canadian Community Service Association (CCSA) was found in 2002 by Mr. Xiang Pu, who was also the first Chairman. The CCSA has a long-term commitment of serving the Chinese community in Canada, and promoting the communication and cooperation among various ethnic groups and communities. The CCSA also helped the Chinese people to integrate into the Canadian society, sought and protected the equal rights of the Chinese Canadians, enhanced the equality, harmony and unity for the multicultural society of Canada, improved the culture exchange and economic and trade cooperation between Canada and China.
CCSA is a non-profit, non-religious and non-political NGO that has been officially registered in Canada, and has developed its membership with over 20,000 people. As one of the most influential Canadian NGOs, CCSA adheres to the idea of serving the Chinese Community since the first day it was founded, and has organized a great number of events, including sixteen Vancouver Chinese Spring Festival Celebrations (Banquet for thousands of people), the Chinese Culture Heritage Festival in 2015, 2016 ,2017 and 2018 with participants over ten thousand people, and ten Vancouver Water-Splashing Festivals and three CCSA Golf Games.
From 2008, CCSA and its members actively involved in both Canadian and Chinese charities with generous donation to the people has been suffered for disaster victims of the Wenchuan Earthquake, University of British Columbia, the Fund of the Richmond Hospital and the Canadian Red Cross for the fire erupted in Fort McMurray. According to incomplete statistics, the members of CCSA has raised over tens of millionsCanadian dollars in total which was a positive contribution to the communities of Canada and China.