Dear Chamber Members,

I like to wish all of you a very Happy and Prosperous Year of the Rat. May you always have good luck, good fortune and good health. I also like to take this opportunity to thank our Executive Director Jennie Ong for once again putting together a great Lunar New Year Bazaar the last weekend of January. Many thanks to our sponsors, vendors and the City of Oakland for a great event. In spite of the rain thousands of people came out to Chinatown and the shops and restaurants were filled with shoppers spending money and enjoying our neighborhood.

We have a wonderful year filled with interesting events planned to entertain as well as educate our members and our Chinatown community at large. Please come and attend our third annual Chinese Small Business Seminar on March 1st, sponsored this year by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. This free seminar will be held at the Asian Cultural Center inside the Pacific Renaissance Plaza here in Chinatown.For more information, please call the Chamber's office at 510-893-8979 if you would like to attend.

Our Annual Meeting/Spring Banquet will be held at the Restaurant Peony on April 23rd. In the spirit of the Beijing Olympics we have invited Olympian Hall of Famer, Dr. Sammy Lee to keynote our dinner. Dr. Sammy Lee was the first Asian American to win an Olympic Gold Medal (diving) for the United States. He was diving coach for Olympic Champion Greg Louganis. He was also a consultant to the Chinese Diving Team. Come listen to his fascinating Olympic story. It will be a great evening. Hope to see many of you at our next event.

Francis Lan, OCCC President