Dear Friends of Nee Hao,

I would like to wish you a warm and lovely Lunar New Year Season. It has been a great learning experience and pleasure for the Nee Hao Team to report on issues of importance and interest that affect the East Asian Community both in the UK and overseas. It has also been a delight receiving your feedback and encouragement over the years. As Nee Hao enters the Year of the Horse, we aim to do more to support the Chinese and East Asian communities in Britain.

It has been a memorable Year of the Snake for us. We had many highlights, including (but not limited to) interviewing Hsiao-Hung Pai, the great investigative journalist, who went undercover to document the migrant sex industry in the UK. Also, it was wonderful meeting with London Mayor Boris Johnson at a press conference when he expressed his support of transforming the Royal Albert Docks by attracting Asian investment.

A huge leap for Nee Hao, an initiative that started amongst a group of ambitious friends, was when our project finally became able to formally recognise contributions to British East Asian society.

In 2013, we launched the Man and Woman of the Year Award, our first winners being the British East Asian Artists. Their efforts in ensuring East Asians are treated fairly and in challenging cultural and racial stereotypes have inspired and laid better foundations for the next generation of actors and artists from ethnic minority backgrounds. Our hope is to celebrate more people that invest so much time, energy and passion to making East Asian Britain a better place.

It gives me great comfort to see how far the East Asian community has gone up to the present day. The collaborative project between the National Army Museum with the Anglo-Chinese community to tell the stories of the Chinese contribution to the allied front in WWI shows that our intertwined histories will not be forgotten. Reporting on this was a huge honour for Nee Hao. Yet, we must be vigilant in giving back too, to continue the work of our forefathers and mothers.

Teaming up with OISE to host intensive courses for English-language development and industry-related specialist skills is something Nee Hao is very proud of – one established trait of Chinese culture, after all, is solidarity. Solidarity of which would not be possible if not for all of you who create and continue to disseminate your respective cultures and make your voices heard.

Thank you again for joining us in the Year of the Snake. We look forward to serving the community in the New Year of the Horse. All the best for your health, family lives, aspirations, dreams and goals, we are behind you 100 per cent.

Yours,

Steven Ip

Editor in Chief of Nee Hao Magazine