“The people at Chin Communications hold my words in their hands” said Lord Mayor Robert Doyle AC, guest speaker at our 25th anniversary party. And we’ve been doing just that for 25 years for our clients – many of whom attended our gala event on 12 July.
We’ll let the words of our guests tell the story from our Gala 25th ‘Chin Dig’ and the last 25 years while looking ahead to the next quarter century.
“Charles Qin is a walking dictionary of the Australia-China relationship” Mr Huang Guobin, Acting Consul-General reflected. Well, I remember someone rang up once and asked us for a ‘walking dictionary’ so the idea has merit. “Chin Communications has grown from a tiny seedling into a big tree and been a beneficiary of the development of China.” Absolutely Mr Huang; we were even in business before China became a big story and before there was much interest. I described that decision as ‘prescient’ and 25 years have just flown by. I call that thought leadership.
Mr Huang reminded us of the level of work Chin has been involved in over that time providing Mandarin interpreting for current and former Chinese presidents, Xi, Jiang, Hu, presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, and many Australian prime ministers. It seems that Mr Huang was also impressed with Charles’ botanical knowledge as he always reminds us keen gardeners of Yunnan’s contribution to world botany!
It’s not often you get compared to one’s hairdresser, surgeon and tailor in the one sentence. The Lord Mayor put us all in bed together in the level of faith you put in this person in your life. High praise for the humble Mandarin Interpreter – the fear of a bad haircut is as bad as having your words mangled and an interpreter can almost save your life when you are about to say something stupid, the Lord Mayor reminded. Chin definitely goes the extra mile.
Andrew Robb AO sent a special message to Charles. He conveyed his “Great respect and gratitude for your quarter century of high achievement”, and reminded the 200 guests that Charles and the Chin team had been a critical part of the success for CHAFTA, Australia Week in China and other bilateral dialogues. “You have much to be proud of Charles”, he congratulated.
Around 200 of our old and new clients enjoyed a great night at Space@Collins with the support of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre catering. The inspired displays and staging produced by Design by Bird including our timeline and photos going back 25 years were a reminder of how far we’d come as a business in a quarter of a century and how we hadn’t changed a bit in appearance! Our friends from Bramshaw Conference Equipment provided a highlight for the night as some of our guests tried their hand at simultaneous Mandarin-English interpreting with interesting results – not for the faint-hearted was the consensus!
It was great to hear the Lord Mayor’s reflections on Melbourne’s relationships with China too – its successful missions and concrete outcomes for businesses with China; no doubt Chin has made a significant contribution to this city we call home. It was certainly clear to all in the room that you don’t want to leave your written or spoken words to chance!
“The best translators capture mood, meaning and tone not just vocabulary and that is what I have found with Charles’s team.”