On the evening of 3 June, “Night of Council: Banquet Celebration for the 10th Anniversary of Beijing Council” was grandly held at China World Summit Wing Beijing. The whole banquet was glitzy and splendorous. Nearly 800 distinguished people include well-known collectors from home and abroad, celebrities from the cultural sphere, artists, entertainment stars and industry elites attended and together paid witness to the ten wonderful years that Council has enjoyed.

After a set of opening videos reviewing Council’s ten years of growth, Dong Guoqiang, Chairman of Beijing Council, Liu Yiqian, Chairman of Sunline Group and founder of Long Museum and Yuan Yafei, Chairman of Sanpower Group, gave speeches to pay witness to this significant historical moment with the celebrities from multiple fields and important guests present there. They expressed their best wishes and hopes for the tenth anniversary of Council and its future development.

Dong Guoqiang addressed the first speech and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Council’s many friends for their support for Council. Liu Yiqian and Yuan Yafei looked ahead at the future prospects of Council and shared their expectations for the auction house.

In April this year, Hiteker, in which Sanpower Group is the controlling shareholder, announced that it will acquire Beijing Council. Sanpower Group Chairman Yuan Yafei noted that Council was extraordinary for achieving so much in ten years. After the acquisition is complete, Council will become a listed company, enter the Sanpower family and become an important part of Hiteker. It is believed that after adding to its strengths, Council will provide a better service to collectors and artists.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Council, Council employees filmed a music video entitled Proud Council with the theme of “I Love Council”. Staff members performed a vibrant song and dance programme on the stage as “Council Band”, providing the first highlight of the night.

The contemporary young artist Gao Yu created a memorial sculpture called A Dream of Five Hundred Years which was unveiled ceremoniously at the banquet. At the same time, Council donated this original sculpture for the company’s tenth anniversary to the charity auction to help raise funds for good causes.

Council continues to actively perform its corporate social responsibilities. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, Council held the “Council Tenth Anniversary & Alxa SEE Charity Auction” together with the Alxa SEE Ecological Association. During the evening, the president of Alxa SEE Qian Xiaohua introduced its charitable project called One Hundred Million Sacsaoul Trees and expressed his heartfelt congratulations on the tenth anniversary of Council on behalf of the more than 500 members of Alxa SEE.

At the invitation of Council, famous contemporary artists including Jin Shangyi, Chen Danqing, Bei Dao, Zhou Chunya, Liu Shuyong, Peng Wei, Gao Yu donated 11 works of art to the charity auction. Stars and celebrities such as Wang Gang, Chen Kun, Zhang Tielin and Liu Yiqian came on stage to assist with the auction proceedings. The charity auction raised RMB 2.81 million, which was donated to Alxa SEE charitable program.

The evening’s programme showed great attention to detail. Chi Xiaoqiu, a famous performing artist from Cheng’s School Peking Opera led the youth group of the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre in performing the opera Guoyun Liufang. The singer Dai Quan performed the original work Wukong which was full of Chinese cultural elements. The Taiwanese “prince of the sea” Lin Xinyang sang the two songs 1000 Suns and Grandma’s Penghu Bay. Zhang Tielin gave the final performance of the night and sang the Peking Opera excerpt Shang Tiantai, accompanied with a famous erhu player. There were also other wonderful performances including a song performed with the guzheng, a live set from a band, and a fashion show. The result was a superb audio-visual feast fusing both traditional and modern elements.

Sanpower Group Chairman Yuan Yafei giving a speech