07 Mar 2010 1 Comment

Visit by President of Chinese Weiqi Association

Mr. Wang Runan 8P, President of the Chinese Weiqi Association, is visiting Australia. This is a historic event indeed – Mr. Wang is the highest ranking go official ever to visit Australia.

The party arrived in Melbourne on 2nd March 2010, and then flew to Brisbane on the 3rd. We held a welcome banquet for them, with local dignitaries and BGC members.

Mr. Wang with leaders of the Brisbane Chinese community

Before dinner there was friendly go with the visitors, who were all strong players.  Each visitor received a small gift, and we presented a special gift of a boomerang, signed by BGC members, to Mr. Wang.

Presentation to Mr. Wang Runan 8P by John and Larry

 

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner, and afterwards there was more go, until the restaurant kicked us out at 9.00pm. They just can’t understand, it seems.

On Thursday the 4th March, the visitors enjoyed a day out, and in the evening BGC hosted a BBQ. Thank heavens we were able to give them one fair dinkum Aussie meal on their trip. Four of the visitors brought their wives, who had to put up with the go players. The ladies kindly helped with the BBQ preparation, we can call them part of the BGC team.

Honorary BGC team members

 

What would a day be without go? Of course we again played social go with the visitors.

Jeremy won this six stone game against Mr. Wang

 

Everyone had a marvellous time. Mr. Wang is a warm, enthusiastic and friendly person – he even speaks excellent Japanese, which certainly helped me with communication. We dare to hope that this party will visit us again some time.

There are many people who must be thanked for their efforts in bringing this event to fruition. Bill Sun (Melbourne) and David He (Sydney) looked after the southern cities. David was responsible for the travel arrangements and put in a huge amount of effort on that. Larry Wen conceived and drove the idea to a successful conclusion and made most of the Brisbane arrangements. Brisbane members Erli Qiu and Kevin Jiang helped out with donations to help cover expenses (the AGA also contributed). BGC President Mark Bell did s sterling job behind the BBQ.

We consider this to be a highly succesful event which may lead to more exchanges between Australia and China.

For more pictures of this event -

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/jackoheart1/WangRunanVisitMarch2010#

by John Hardy in Events, Visiting