From VIP art tours to high profile guest speakers, there is never a dull moment for Australian alumni in China.
ACAA South China
The ACAA is delighted to announce that from mid-Sept 2010, we will be sharing an office with AustCham South China and long-time partner, CPA Australia. The ACAA is also pleased to announce that we’ll be hosting a booth at the China International SME forum in Guangzhou from September 15 – 17. Thanks to our partner Austrade. Look out for Jason and his team at the booth – they’ll be handing out a handy free map of Guangzhou and signing up new alumni!
QUT and Griffith Speed-Networking Event
A QUT/Griffith Speed Networking event was held in August in Beijing. Career officers from both universities were in attendance, along with numerous corporate representatives, and of course, alumni!
Beijing Alumni attend Aboriginal Art Exhibition in Beijing
Thirty Beijing-based alumni were treated to an exclusive tour of the Aboriginal Art from Australia’s Deserts on August 9 at the National Art Museum of China. This major international exhibition is being held in China as part of Imagine Australia: Year of Australian Culture in China activities.
UTS receives $25 million gift for new Gehry-designed building and scholarships
The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) announced in June that it was the recipient of the largest ever philanthropic gift by an individual for a university building in Australia. Chinese business leader Dr Chau Chak Wing has donated a total of $25 million to UTS; $20 million to support the new Faculty of Business Building designed by Frank Gehry, and an additional $5 million to create an endowment fund for student scholarships. It makes Dr Chau one of the leading philanthropists in the Asia-Pacific region. In recognition of the gift – the largest ever made to an Australian Business school – UTS will name its new Gehry-designed Faculty of Business building the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building.
Alumni in the Spotlight: Cheng Lei, CNBC’s China Correspondent
Who is the most interesting person that you’ve interviewed in your time with CNBC?
CL: I asked Mick Jagger (the Rolling Stones’ first tour to China in 2006) whether the band would be chasing Chinese hotties – to keep true to their sex drugs and rock’n roll reputations, without skipping a beat, the Lips said “are YOU available?”
What would you rank as the most interesting business news story of 2010 so far?
CL: China. As it will be for years.
Who are the Chinese business leaders to watch over the next 5 years?
CL: Wang Xi (Easou)
Jack Ma (Alibaba.com)
What’s your favourite expo pavilion?
CL: None. Ambivalent about all gargantuan Chinese build-fests. The nationalist in me says marvelous construction work. The business reporter says what a boon for outbound tourism and education. The cynic in me endorses everything Han Han says about the Expo. The conservationist just shudders, sighs.
How do you relax on the weekends, and what are your favourite places in Shanghai?
CL: The opposite of my weekday – unstructured, unhurried, unplugged. Far beyond the velvet banquettes of the Bund, the wet market beckons. Here you’ll find everything piquant, pungent and even poignant, every man and his Pekinese are here, every woman and her trolley, in singlets and pajamas, with slippers and half-burning cigarettes, paying homage to deaths so that we may live gourmands’ tasty lives. Behold the Pollock-esque spread before you, the dripping eel de-boner, the metres and metres of fire hydrant tubes that turn out to be pig intestines, freshly plucked chicken carcasses tossed across the melee, and most of all, mountains of greens, greens, greens. ■
* Join the ACAA today! Visit www.AustChinaAlumni.org for more information.
