Beyond Borders and Seas, Convey Love to Everybody
Beyond Borders and Seas, Convey Love to Everybody
The 7th ICBC Basketball Tournament 2019
Hosted by China Enterprise Association (Singapore) on 26th May (Sunday) and organized by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Singapore Branch， the 7th ICBC China Enterprise Basketball Tournament ended successfully at the Singapore Basketball Centre. Charity donations were also held in conjunction with the awards ceremony. The invited guests included: Vice Chairman of the GPC for Environment and Water Resources & MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Mr. Gan Thiam Poh, Charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, Mr. Jiang Xumin and Military Attaché Mr. Jiang Jianrong, Minister Counsellor of Economic and Commercial Affairs Ms. Zhong Manying, Chairman of Singapore Business Federation and Managing Director of Pacific Shipping Line, Mr. Teo Siong Seng, Director of Singapore Chinese Media Group, Ms. Lee Hwee Lin, President of Chinese Enterprises Association (Singapore), Mr. Qiu Zhikun, Honorary President, Mr. Meng Fanqiu, and Chairman of Sian Chay Medical Institution, Mr. Toh Soon Huat, and together with other 200 people including the representatives of CEA, basketball players, and the cheerleaders also attended the event. Overall, $12,000 raised for Sian Chay at that day.
China Enterprise Association (Singapore) has been established for 20 years. In line with the original goal of settling in Singapore, serving Singapore, and fulfilling social responsibility, China Enterprise Association (Singapore) initiated the charitable donation activity with the support of a number of CEA members, to promote friendship through sports, to spread love by friendship. Passing “love” and “true affection” with the basketball and supporting the charity cause of Singapore. The four Chinese enterprises participating in the corporate donation are China Construction Nanyang Development Company, China Life Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd, China Taiping Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd, and ICBC Singapore Branch. In addition, the personal donations via PayNow(ICBCBAS) started from 15 May, as well as the electronic donation and cash donation held on the award ceremony have also been actively supported by the employees of Chinese enterprises.
The ICBC Singapore Branch has been operating in Singapore for 26 years. Over the years, it has been supporting Sino-Singapore economic and commerce cooperation, improving financial service quality, and actively involved in charity causes and giving back to the society by building a “Bank of Love”.
Vice Chairman of the GPC for Environment and Water Resources Committee &, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Mr. Gan Thiam Poh, hoped that CEA Basketball United Team would join as a member of Singapore Basketball Association. Mr. Gan expected more Chinese companies to exchange and compete with Singapore Basketball Association.
The tournament began from 15th May . After 55 games with 20 teams from 30 Chinese enterprises, a total of more than 200 players, ICBC Singapore Branch, Embassy-Telecom United and Chinese Insurance United won the top 3 titles. The rest of Top 8 included National Oil United, China Construction Nanyang, Huasing-Unionpay-SPDB United, China Construction Bank and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering. In order to share the passionate games and the vitality of Chinese enterprises with all the friends throughout the world, the tournament of this year was broadcast live and watched by over 1000 viewers online and won widespread acclaim.
Mr. Zhang Xumin, Charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, was full of praise of the basketball tournament and the charity donation activity. He said, “It is a very beneficial innovation to combine basketball with charity. It is a meaningful attempt for the Chinese enterprises to explore executing corporate social responsibility in Singapore. Chinese enterprises will make greater contributions to Sino-Singapore bilateral friendship. Ms. Hu Fang, General Manager of ICBC Singapore Branch, said, “The development of Chinese enterprises in Singapore is inseparable from the care and support of all walks of life in Singapore. When drinking water think of its source—we should always be grateful to those who helped us. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the China Enterprises Association, the tournament not only means to convey friendship by basketball, but also to spread love through friendship. Therefore, we initiated the charity donation activity jointly with other CEA members in order to make a contribution to the charity and medical cause in Singapore.
Toh Soon Huat, Chairman of Sian Chay Medical Institution, said: ” One sows and another reaps. The 100-year-old Sian Chay Medical Institution was founded by our pioneer generation sailing to the south seas. My ancestors were from Fujian Lam Ann while I am among the third generation born in local. As Chinese descendants, we are obliged to continue the good virtues of our ancestors.
Every $10 donation can benefit a patient from a low-income family to enjoy free consultation and medicine at Sian Chay. Helping one person is equivalent to helping one family because anyone in a big family gets sick, the life and mood of the whole family will be greatly affected. Helping a family will bring happiness to all the people around him. In the past five years (2014 -2018), Sian Chay served a total of about 1.42 million patient visits and issued 2.65 million posts of prescription. In the next five years (2019-2023), the number of patient visits will be estimated to be 2.5 million, 4.8 million posts of prescription are expected to be dispensed.
We can’t determine the length of life, then we determine its width and make it more meaningful. In the process of life, every moment, every occurrence, every experience, every bottleneck, we change ourselves and improve ourselves. Make our life different from others and benefit the world.
Hereby, we would like to thank the new immigrant groups for their support to Singapore and the charity cause of Sian Chay. Thanks to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction ( South Pacific), China Life Insurance, and China Taiping for their love and support.
Wishing the friendship between the China and Singapore will flourish forever!