Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

Good evening! It's my great honor to attend the reception celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year and the 50th Anniversary of the Philadelphia Orchestra's historic tour to China in 1973, and welcome the delegation from Suzhou who bring a special gift to Philadelphia tonight. First, I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation to all friends who have been promoting exchange and cooperation between China and the U.S..

The theme of today's concert is Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems. The beauty of Tang poems lies not only in its rhythms but also in its profound meanings. Here I would like to share with you three lines from Tang Poems to express my new year wishes.

First, panning for gold from grains of sand is hard work, but gold will be found after thousands of times of sand-sifting（千淘万漉虽辛苦，吹尽狂沙始到金）. Though China-U.S. relations have gone through ups and downs since we reopen the gate in 1971, our two countries have cooperated with each other and delivered tangible benefits to the two peoples as well as countries around the world. Before the pandemic, there were more than 300 flights across the Pacific every week and over five million mutual visits every year. Two-way trade in 2021 topped US$750 billion and two-way investment reached US$240 billion. It fully demonstrates that mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation are the right way for major countries like China and the U.S. to live with each other.

Second, good friends feel close to each other even when they are far apart（相知无远近，万里尚为邻）. Despite the geographic distance between China and the U.S., our two peoples enjoy a long-lasting friendship. The Philadelphia Orchestra was the first American orchestra to visit China in 1973. Since then, it has become one of the most popular foreign orchestras in China. Today, young talented singers from ISING!Suzhou will bring us a wonderful performance. As these stories show, people-to-people exchange is a constant driving force for China-U.S. relations.

Third, you can enjoy a grander sight by climbing to a greater height（欲穷千里目，更上一层楼）. As President Xi Jinping stressed in his meeting with President Joe Biden in Bali, the world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together. As the world is in a new period of turbulence and transformation, though China and the U.S. are so different, the world expects us to work together to keep the bilateral ties stable and jointly address the challenges we are facing. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Lunar New Year of the rabbit is approaching. I remembered the lovely rabbit Judy in Disney film Zootopia once said, “Dream big! Anyone can be anything.” In the new year, let's dream together, and work together to make it come true to have a better future.

Happy New Year! 

I wish this concert a great success!