Chinese New Year brings the Cook family closer together

post submitted by Rebecca Liu, General Manager, China

Some of you might know Chinese New Year is approaching. The holiday starts on February 18 (Chinese New Year’s Eve) and goes on until February 24 in 2015. It’s the most important festival for family reunions in Chinese society. Each year is associated with one of 12 Chinese Zodiac signs. 2015 is the Year of the Sheep/Goat, which means prosperity and success.

As a tradition in China, companies usually offer a dinner celebration for coworkers to have blessings and fun on an annual basis.

We held a celebration in 2011 and decided to resume this as our annual tradition starting this year. So, we gathered 160 Cook people from all over China and celebrated it in a Chinese way on January 23, 2015. Besides service awards, dinner, and traditional red packets, we also had 15 talent shows that were designed, practiced, and delivered by our own people. We are amazed that there are so many hidden talents inside of Cook China. Lots of the teams’ shows were well done. It’s a fabulous and remarkable evening for all of us as family members.

We would like to share some thoughts and comments from performers, organizers, and audience members’ perspectives.

“It was a great opportunity to know our colleagues from a different perspective, as friends.”

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— Tony Wang

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“It was an exciting experience and great fun to work with Tony and the organizers of the gala dinner. The gala dinner was a real blast.”

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— Sherry Wang

“It is a wonderful party for Cook China employees. We gather and celebrate our success in 2014. The performance of annual dinner is wonderful. Our employees are all artists with talent. The party is full of surprise and pleasure. It also increases the company cohesion. As the performer, I attended the drumming show with management team. I have a lot of fun and know more about team work.”

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— Ruby Liu

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“It’s very exciting and encouraging! It’s all about ‘Cook-ers’ feelings of family, honor, and pride. During the meanwhile, we get more enthusiastic about the work of year 2015. We did enjoy the gathering, but think it could be even better if we’ve got more opportunities to socialize with SBU colleagues.”

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— Albert Lv

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“We are really honored to perform at the annual party! It gave us a good opportunity to know each other better. We are so proud to be a member of Cook family!”

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— Daisy Liu

“It is a wonderful party showing so many talents by Cook people! I am so glad to be one of them!”

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— David Fan

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“It is an excellent opportunity for all of us from Sales Operations department to participate in the performance at annual party. We design a special type of performance with a good story based on team discussion. Although nobody has tried such a play before, we become more and more tacit with each other and enhance the cohesion of teamwork by the guidance from the instructor and our persistence. When the final performance was finished, everybody feels that all the past effort is worthwhile at the moment while hearing audience’s applause.”

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— Lynn Chen

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“The greatest thing of all is to amuse others and be amused in return.”

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— Joyce Huang

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“This is my first job and first show on stage in my life so far. I am very happy all these first times happened at Cook. Hope there will be more happy and exciting first times ahead of me.”

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— Yang Yang

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“Who am I depends on who I choose to be.”

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— Will Qin

Thoughts from the event organizers

“We’re very grateful to get the great help from all the different departments during the preparation of this party. As one of the organizers, I’m impressed by people’s dedication. They practiced hard and seriously. They used their own time after work to do this. All people seemed to enjoy themselves at the dinner. It’s the happiest thing for us. Look forward to the party in next year!”

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— Sharon Lin, administrative officer

“It’s my pleasure to organize this party to make everyone happy. Thanks for all of your support!”

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— Grace Wang, human resources manager

See the slideshow below to see more of our talented performers. 

Comments from the audience

“What a wonderful gala! There are so many colorful performances, some of them are inspiring , some are very touching ,some are amusing…This chance gathered colleagues working in different cities together, which strengthen our unity and cooperation. Look forward to the next annual party!”

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— Yajun Dong, clinical team lead

“Cook 2015 Annual Party is the most fabulous party I have attended. A golden chance to meet colleagues from different functions, delicious food for a good appetite, and excellent shows from teams. In the audience, I could definitely feel enthusiasm, love, and happiness within our Cook family!”

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— Tony Chu, logistic supervisor

“As an audience member, I think our New Year celebration party is unexpectedly brilliant, with highest participant, and close to our real work and life. Thanks very much for your hard work!”

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— Minna Liu, regulatory affairs supervisor

“My team and I all feel that everyone’s sense of honor, belonging, and participation to Cook has been strengthened after the annual party.”

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— Samson Lo, national sales manager, Endoscopy