Governor lauds CNMI Chinese community

Gov. Juan N. Babauta thanked the Saipan Chinese Community Association for their immeasurable contributions to the social, cultural, and economic life of the Commonwealth during their annual Lunar New Year’s celebration held at the Dai-Ichi Hotel Saipan Beach Friday.

Looking forward to the advantages and opportunities offered by the new status of the Commonwealth as a preferred destination for Chinese mainland originating tourists, the Babauta encouraged his hosts to not only continue with what is already present on the ground, but also to accelerate business expansion and development to accommodate the expected influx of Chinese visitors to the islands.

On hand to greet the evening’s revelers were members of the SCCA, headed by businesswoman and association president Rose Chan, and Coca-Cola manager and SCCA vice president Johnny Fong.

Other prominent SCCA members present were businessman Hua Xi Ong, banker Xie Tan Qi, restauranteur Anna Chang, Modern Stationary’s Linda Yang, and Hong Kong actress Emily Woo.

The evening began with the obligatory drumbeat-accompanied dragon dance sans fireworks, on the stage at the Hibiscus Hall of the Garapan hotel.

The event offered a pleasantly cosmopolitan cuisine for a diverse audience. Italian pasta vied with the oriental rice that accompanied the Japanese shashimi and the Filipino lechon, washed down with Vin de France on the table.

Other viands kept a sumptuous table surprisingly without the traditional noodles, the dumplings and the dim sum. Kalamansi and mango juice fared well in the beverage counter.

The evening’s entertainment was diverse as well. A young boy’s violin rendition of Auld Lang Syne elicited a quip that this was the result of an Irish Priest’s travel to Xi’an after Marco Polo.

A brave Filipino singer crooned the famous Teresa Teng Yue Liang Dai Wo De Xing (Moon Shows My Heart) to accompany a ballet number. The song is famous enough that it is often part of non-Chinese, notably the troubadours at Aqua Resort Club, performed numbers. One is, however, cautioned that a slight variation on the Chinese word for “heart” could easily make it sound as referring to the “kidney”.

Emily Woo, erstwhile cinema artist in the former British Colony and now a Saipan resident, performed a couple of motion meditations in the tradition of Chinese martial arts.

Other vocalists from the Chinese community performed popular songs. Children from the Chinese School also showed their learning.

The highlight of the evening however, remained the raffle drawing, which got local luminaries to the stage to help pick out stubs.

Staffing the awards table were also several young ladies from the Northern Marianas College, who volunteered their time to label, sort out, and distribute in an orderly fashion the various gifts that corresponded with the drawn stubs.

Alice Yang and David Zheng were the evening’s emcees. The Honorable David Wiseman, and his wife were among the honored guests.