Hon. Mayor Phil Goff,

Member of Parliament Dr. Yang Jian,

Sir Bob Harvey,

Dear friends,

Ladies and gentlemen:

Good evening！

It gives great pleasure to be part of this Happy New Year Acrobatic Show. At the outset, I wish to extend, on behalf of the Chinese Consulate General in Auckland, our warmest welcome to all distinguished guests and friends present here tonight and all the acrobats from Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius.

At the joyful moment, I’d like to extend our best wishes to all of you present here and, through you to your families, and to our Chinese compatriots, students, business people, media and all the friends in the consular district for a very happy New Year of Golden Pig.

I am happy to see that the Chinese Spring Festival has become an integral part of the multicultural events of New Zealand. As the Year of Golden Pig is approaching, Auckland has been immersed in the atmosphere of the festival. A series of colorful events have been scheduled to entertain the local people. Tens and thousands of people in NZ are fascinated by China’s culture and civilization which has been uninterrupted for 5000 years. These activities have brought tremendous joy to the people in NZ and South Pacific islands as well. I wish to applaud and compliment the NZ central and local governments as well as many others for your precious support to all the festive activities.

National relations are based on the affection of the peoples towards each other. Cultural exchange plays a very important role in strengthening the ties and friendship between peoples and is also a very important part of building the 21st Maritime Silk Road between our two countries. The Belt and Road Initiative, a modern version of the ancient silk route, is a road of connectivity not only about trade, financing and infrastructure, but most importantly about people to people exchanges.

The artists of Ji’nan Acrobatic Troupe have brought us not only the wonderful acrobatic performances but also the best wishes of Chinese people to the people of NZ for the Spring Festival. I am confident that their performance will put another addition to the mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and deepen our bilateral relationship based on equality, mutual respect, mutual trust and win-win cooperation.

I would like to thank Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and China Cultural Centre in New Zealand for co-organizing tonight’s event. Thank you for bringing us the cultural feast. It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy the show.

I wish the performance a great success and every one a pleasant evening.

Thank you !