On the evening of 25 January, BritCham Shanghai cordially welcomed a full house of members and friends at Thought for Food by Octave, for its annual featured Scottish Connecter event, commemorating the birthday of the Scottish poet Robert Burns and celebrating his spirit.
Stuart Dunn, Executive Director of BritCham Shanghai, commenced the activity by extending gratitude to our guests and acknowledging the enduring bonds of our community.
Barbara Amono-Oceng, British Deputy Consul-General in Shanghai, shared the existing strong ties between Scotland and China in the aspects of higher education links, exports and investment as well as tourism, expressing her delight to see the enduring connections between Scotland and China.
“Scotland has a rich history of creative minds and Robert Burns was one of Scotland’s first creative pioneers. He has a unique ability to put himself in the shoes of others, giving his words an enduring appeal that continues to this day.
The celebration of Robert Bruns speaks to Scotland’s wider spirit, brings together our communities and reaffirms Scotland’s reputation around the world as a welcoming and creative nation. Today, there are many existing strong ties between Scotland and China in trade and investment, as well as cultural exchanges, and China is an exceptionally important market to the UK. I hope to see our ties between Scotland and China grow even stronger”, said Barbara.
As networking went on, we gladly invited Paul Farrell, Principal of Britannica International School in Shanghai, to present Address to a Haggis, a poem written by Robert Burns and introduce the Scottish dish, Haggis.
We would like to thank our guests who participated in the poetry reading session and brought us a wonderful time.
Curt, an old friend of Burns Night event, joining us for his second consecutive year.
Vivi from Octave and Scottish Alumni Dr Burgud teamed up for the poetry ‘Ae Fond Kiss’.
Will, a big fan of Robert Burns, who googled Burns Night Shanghai while his travel in town, found the evening a nice surprise.
Special thanks to our Event Sponsor, Scottish Development International, Whisky Sponsor, Pernod Ricard China, Venue Partner, Octave, as well as our lucky draw prize sponsors. Thank their generous support which made this event memorable.
We look forward to seeing you all next year!
