The Decca Celebration
But soon I found it was in my “best interests” to accept the invitation. It seems the event was something pretty special, and I believe my presence was more than “just invited”. So I accepted and made plans for a long weekend renewing my visa and handling other business while in Hong Kong. Little did I know what a great celebration this would be!
I arrived right on time. I had been advised not to be late. I wasn’t. But I was far ahead of most of the crowd. I was quite surprised to find though that more managers and staff were attending than I could have ever expected. There were Paul and Eric Li, two of my key interpreters from Dongguan. Alice and Myra were here from headquarters. As more arrived, I could see that most everyone in the management and staff would be here. It was going to be a huge party. By the looks of it, the whole restaurant had been booked, and place settings totaled well over 200.
Then the partying began. Ms. Fung was celebrating a birthday, and a huge cake was brought out. As the celebrating got heavier, I was pushed right into the foray to give Ms. Fung a birthday kiss. That just seemed to ignite the crowd to further celebration.
Soon, some organization ensued, and everyone started finding seats. Edmund Lei then welcomed the crowd, with Roy’s assistance in translation for me and the few other English-speaking souls in attendance. A roar went up on the announcements promoting Richard Herbst to Deputy Managing Director and to Ms. Fung as new Chief Financial Officer. That was the main reason for the event, and we were all happy to be having the chance to gather to congratulate these two pillars of the management team.
And congratulating began in earnest! Now I had been to the wedding reception of Mr. Zhang’s son in March, and I had seen the Chinese tradition of toasting. Well, it sure got strongly endorsed on this night. Groups of employees kept finding their way to Ms. Fung and Richard respectively to toast their success. All seemed genuine in their admiration and expressions, but there was surely a large share of this toasting being conducted just to drink more wine. And boy did they drink wine.
Edmund had selected a special Australian red wine for the occasion. He soon not only had to be responsible for the selection, but also had to purchase an extra supply to quench the thirst of the party goers. Wine glasses were filled regularly and repeatedly.
As I was taking hundreds of photos at this time, I realized this was a pretty good excuse to keep from having to drink so much. I enjoy a good toast and to knock back a drink or two from time to time, but I’m not a fan of heavy drinking of red wine. I think I made a wise choice.
In between toasts, we would assemble back at our table for a course. Then it was time to go toast. Then we returned for another course. Then it was time to toast again. And on and on this went.
The food was unbelievable, as usual here. We started with appetizers, many of bean curd served in varying ways. We had “thousand year old eggs”. That’s a speciality I had recently partaken. It’s hard to describe, but its like a boiled egg, but the white part looks like a colored jello. Well, ya eat the whole thing wrapped in ginger, and barely taste the egg anyway.
Next came the famous soup of weddings and parties all over China: shark fin soup. Now I hope this doesn’t cause any uproar against my blog site. I was just a guest. You see, there has recently been a little stink about shark fin soup in Hong Kong. Disneyland Hong Kong opens on September 5, and with many weddings booked at the famous “Magic Kingdom”, many Chinese expected shark fin soup. And Disney had planned in recognition of the culture. But then the shark protectionist stepped in and threatened boycott! Disney held firm… until a week ago. Then they relented and offered lobster soup as an option instead. Many Chinese are enraged.
But that’s another story, we were eating shark fin soup, and it was delicious. Pictures of the preparation in the middle of the dining hall are attached.
As the eating and drinking continued, we went through eel, chicken, and I don’t know what. But it was delicious. Of course, all the red wine helped make everything taste great.
Soon some heavy toasts and challenges were being made. Glasses were filled to the brim, and I mean large glasses. Before long a few didn’t feel so well. But as one gentleman in attendance told me: “It’s and honor to the hosts for guests to drink merrily and have a good time”. There were many of us doing that!
Another great night! And again, CONGRATULATIONS to Richard and Ms. Fung.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 8:35 AM
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