Ambassador Gary Locke Presents Keynote Remarks at 2012 Leadership Scholarship Awards Dinner in Beijing

U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke congratulated the 39 recipients of the 2012 C-100 Leadership Scholarship on May 15 at the Leadership Scholarship Program (LSP) Awards Dinner in Beijing. Ambassador Locke hailed the Committee of 100 for its effort to identify and establish lasting ties with the next generation of Chinese leaders. Find the video of the full Awards Dinner and transcript in Chinese here.

Locke quoted Confucius: “’Youth should be respected—because how do we know they will not surpass us?’ The Committee of 100 clearly knows that the next generation will surpass us, and its generous scholarship and mentorship program is designed to ensure just that. If we can call on the energy and creativity of our successor generation then there is no problem we can’t solve.”

Ambassador Gary Locke also imparted this advice to the LSP Scholarship awardees, “Stretch, and you will grow, and don’t be afraid to fail.”

As part of C-100’s leadership development initiative, LSP awardees are selected for showing leadership and social responsibility as well as academic achievement. LSP exemplifies C-100’s three core programs—educational exchange, public diplomacy and leadership development. Since LSP’s inception in 2005, the Committee has awarded scholarships to 213 extraordinary students pursuing graduate or post-graduate studies at 24 Chinese universities and art academies. LSP Art scholarships were introduced in 2010, thanks to the generosity of artist Zhou Changxin and his Art Fund.

The LSP graduating class and C-100 LSP leaders at LSP Awards Dinner, which was attended by over 350 guests.

This year’s LSP recipients joined a growing network of LSP alumni and C-100 members. That afternoon, LSP awardees attended two mentoring sessions with a group of Chinese and American leaders from the business and non-profit worlds, including LSP alums, the LSP Planning Committee, LSP partners, and participants in President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative.

Ambassador Locke, 2012 LSP Class President Tian Ye, and LSP Chairman Chih Chen.

Each LSP “class” elects a president who serves one year and attends the Committee’s Annual Conference in the U.S. This year, the candidates experienced firsthand how a competitive American political campaign might unfold. Candidates issued online campaign videos, developed a platform, gave five-minute speeches, and responded to questions from the voters. This year’s president is Tian Ye, a post-graduate student in Marine Geology at Nanjing University.

The evening’s Mistress of Ceremonies, Kelly Cha, a popular radio and TV host, serenaded the audience with her hit songs.

C-100 members and staff present were Kelly Cha, Chih Chen, Ed Chan, Joan Chen, C-100 Chairman Dominic Ng, Carter Tseng, and Dazong Wang, and C-100 Executive Director Angie Tang and Director of Public Relations An Ping. Members of the C-100 Civic Leaders Delegation also attended. Other notable guests at the dinner were U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang and newly-appointed U.S. Embassy Chief of Staff James Scuitto.