Celebrating 30 years of Appreciation and Excellence

Over the course of 14 days we hosted more than 100 guests from the US.  The first 7 days was for 80 special guests who came to help us celebrate our 30th anniversary of providing excellent English education in China.  The second half was for special partners from the US who will be helping us find new english teachers.

During the first 7 days we not only hosted our 80 guests, but we also hosted our Chinese government partners and university presidents from our partner schools in China.  This was a historic week as we had an unprecedented opportunity to put on display our passion for excellence both inside the classroom and outside.

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, our government partners hosted us for a banquet at the State Guesthouse in Beijing.  Being invited to the State Guesthouse is on par with a diplomat or guest in the US being invited to dinner at Camp David.  To say that this is a rare treat that not many experience would be a huge understatement.  To put it into proper perspective, it’d be appropriate to say that when President Obama is in Beijing he would be invited to dinner at the State Guesthouse.  So there we were, our group of 80, having dinner at the highly distinguished State Guesthouse.  Although i was merely there as a photographer, it was a moment i’ll never forget.

The following night was our turn.  It was our turn to host our government partners and university presidents for a night to show what we’ve accomplished over the last 30 years and where we plan to go from here.  We held our event at the Shang-ri La hotel in western Beijing.  Though the Chinese way is to present ourselves in humility and not to boast about our 30 year history, we still viewed this night as a moment to shine.  It’s a once-in-thirty-years opportunity to show that we’re serious about our love for China and that we’re truly grateful for our partners.  We used musical performances with a renowned pianist and a string quartet, we used beautiful video imagery, and we used lighting to create a beautiful environment.  Our hope was to put on a banquet and event that our Chinese guests had never seen before.  I think we succeeded.  From the opening song through the various speakers and to the closing musical piece, i hope our guests felt appreciated, honored, and maybe they even saw and heard our passion for being in China.  In everything we do, we hope it is never boring or ordinary.

I was honored to work alongside a world-class team of passionate event producers, videographers, and photographers. They made the night shine and made my life seem easy.  A massive thank you to all of them!

Here are a few pictures from our event on Wednesday :