2019 UCL China Gala
UCL China Gala (Beijing) 2019 was held on 30 November in Beijing Four Seasons Hotel.
From the birth of UCL Club of Beijing, it organized various networking events every year. The Gala this year featured 'The Sound of Music'.
UCL President and Provost Professor Michael Arthur came to the Gala with university delegation, together with Western Returned Scholars Association British Branch, Central & Eastern Europe of Western Returned Scholars Association, UCL Club of Beijing and over 330 alumni and guests from home and abroad.
UCL President and Provost Professor Michael Arthur addressed "Thank you as always to the Beijing Club for putting on such a spectacular event and coming out in such numbers. You manage to take our breath away every year. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest, most creative and most active of all UCL's worldwide alumni associations. It's always a huge pleasure to be here with you and a great deal of fun."
This year, UCL Dean of School of Engineering Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker shared their present work. He said at the end of the speech that both London and Beijing face issues, such as air pollution and overcrowding, which can have a real impact on the experience of living in those cities. So a big focus at UCL East will be on promoting positive and sustainable urbanization. UCL East will collaborate with partners around the world including Beijing.
During the Gala, UCL alumni and North China Electric Power University Dance Club and Blue Power Choir performed 'Edelweiss' and 'Meeting is a Melody.'
Jasmine Dulcimer Ensemble from Central Academy of Music gave the performance of 'Tritsch Tratsch Polka Schnell', 'Silk Road Jasmine','May Friendship Last' and 'Viva La Vida'. There was saxophone performance of 'HorseRacing', 'When you are 64' and 'When Spring Breeze Comes'.
Alumni presented poetry performance of 'Stray Birds' and 'Hymn of a Traveler' which combined music, poetry with dance.
A group rendition of the famous old song 'My Country and Me'.
Qipashuo guest speaker, Ali, spoke about music and life.
The photographers from Instant Video took great shots of the highlights. There were 1.052 million live views on Inke and 306.8 thousand live views on Ixigua during the Gala.
Salsa dancing was the finale of the Gala.
The Gala was sponsored and supported by many partners, they are: Hualu Energy Development Group, Social Cultural Innovation Forum, Shanghai Shenhuang Investment Co., Ltd., Beijing Leader Aesthetic Surgery Hospital, Wilmer Dental, Beijing Surprise Outlets, Luxury fashion brand MCM, Powerhouse GYM, Beijing Hotel NUO, top fashion brand CHER, Beijing Jinsong Dental Medical Group, Rong Xin Tailor, HSBC, Beijing Huangge Design Co., Ltd., KILALI Hair, Nail and Skin Management Center, The British House, Educational Testing Service, Mufeeling, Beijing Four Seasons Hotel. The generous gifts provided by them were distributed to the alumni throug·h lucky draws.
Thank you all for coming to the Gala this year! This year's excellent show were directed and compiled by the alumni committee. Let's give a round of applause to the alumni committee's excellent teamwork and for directing a successful line up of performances. (Alumni committee members and alumni volunteers involved for Gala preparation are: Chen Sicong, Fu Ning, Fu Yifan, Gao Shaobo, Guo Jiajia, Li Mingyuan, Li Qianqian, Liang Xuening, Song Caiya, Yang Ren, Yang Xiyu, and Zhang Jincao.) We sincerely wish all UCL supporters and alumni a wonderful winter season!