January 21, 2008. Shanghai campus - More than 1,600 VIP guests, corporate partners, government officials, and CEIBS alumni, students and employees attended CEIBS' spectacular New Year Concert 2008 this evening, entitled "Wison Night at the Shanghai Grand Theatre." The event thanked CEIBS supporters and stakeholders for their contribution during 2007. The concert was performed by the renowned Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the oldest in Asia.


CEIBS New Year Concert 2008 --Wison Night at Shanghai Grand Theatre

Hosted by Dragon TV personality Yuan Ming, the evening began with the short video "Reviewing 2007" -- a celebration of CEIBS' major achievements over the past year. The images included a clip of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praising CEIBS during his November 28, 2007 speech at the fourth EU-China Summit. In recognizing the school's contribution to China's economic and educational growth, Premier Wen called CEIBS "an incubator for excellent business leaders."

To begin the concert, CEIBS President Zhu Xiaoming, who is also Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Shanghai Municipality, delivered his New Year greetings. He said, "We don't have a long history, yet we have more than 5,000 excellent alumni all around the world; we don't have a large campus, yet we have an excellent faculty team all over the world."

The programme, under the masterful baton of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Director Chen Xieyang, showed the full spectrum of the orchestra's talents. Beginning with Li Huanzhi's Spring Festival Overture, the repertoire included: F. Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto in E Minor" including a violin solo by Wang Zhijiong; F. Lehar's "Treasure Waltz"; Johann Strauss Jr's overture "Die Fledermaus"; J. Brahms' "Ungarische Tanze No.5," L. Anderson' s "Sleigh Ride," P. I. Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of Flowers," K. Alford's "Colonel Bogey March," and Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony Chapter 4." At the concert' s close, the orchestra responded to the enthusiasm of the crowd by playing three additional pieces.

Tonight's New Year Concert follows CEIBS New Year celebrations in Beijing and Shenzhen. A New Year Concert was held in Beijing on December 15, 2007while the Shenzhen offices organized an event on January 20 , 2008.

The CEIBS New Year Concert 2008 was sponsored by Wison Group Holding, with additional sponsorship from Bright Show International and Shanghai Meinian Health Care.