Your Excellency the Governor General,

Your Excellency the Most Hon. Lady Cooke,

Your Worship Mr. Desmond McKenzie, Mayor of Kingston,

Mr. Dalton Yap, President of CBA, and Mrs. Yap,

Mr. Exley Ho, President of CCA, and Mrs. Ho,

Mr. Sam Lyn Shim, President of Chinese Freemason Society, and Mrs. Shim

Fellow Chinese,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My wife and I feel very much delighted to join the local Chinese community in celebrating the Chinese New Year. And we fell more so tonight to be able to share the festive jubilation together with a distinguished fellow Chinese – the Most Hon. Lady Cooke. I hope the Governor General won't get jealous when you heard me only mentioning your wife's name. Of course, your presence here tonight has graced this happy occasions of ours tremendously.

Just now, we enjoyed the traditional Chinese cultural item – the lion dance. It is so popular and so wonderful that the people of other ethnic groups and actually people all over the world are fascinated by this performance. You know, one week ago the Diplomatic Week of Jamaica had a cultural evening with each foreign embassy staging a performance reflecting its own country's culture. The Chinese Embassy had the great pleasure of inviting the lion dancers and CBA's martial arts or Kungfu players to perform for the diplomats. I was deeply touched by the warm welcome accorded to them by my colleagues in the diplomatic corpse. So please accept my heart-felt thanks to those performers and CBA. Your wonderful artistic skill has won the glory for the Chinese culture. And we are looking forward to seeing more of it later tonight.

The celebration of the Year of Monkey has special meaning for the Chinese community as it marks the 150th anniversary of the first arrival of the Chinese forefathers to Jamaica. we all know that the community will organize a series of activities for the celebration throughout the year.

Leaders of the Chinese community, I'd like to assure you that the Chinese Embassy will be with you in all these activities. Here, I'd like to take this opportunity to make the announcement that the Chinese Government will present to the Chinese community of Jamaica a pair of stone lion statues to be placed outside the gate of the CBA building meant to keep good fortune and happiness for every family of the Chinese community. And in order to join you in the celebration, the Chinese Government will also send an art troupe to Jamaica for a performance tour this year.

Before conclusion, I want to express my special thanks to Patrick and Lorraine Lee. What you have present to me is not only a book, but also a part of history, a part of the glory belonging to both Jamaican and Chinese peoples.

Let me wish you all the best in the Year of the Monkey!

Kung Hee Fatt Choy!