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President’s message
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Welcome to the December newsletter - the final one for 2011!
 As the summer festivities get into full swing, the Chamber has plenty to celebrate. It was great to see so many of you at our Christmas party on December 14, which also marked the launch of the new, 2012, edition of the Food Lovers’ Guide to Chinatown & Haymarket, just in time to help CNY visitors find Chinatown’s top places to eat.
We have just received a City grant that will help us pursue exciting plans for next year, including developing a new iPhone app. featuring self-guided walking tours of Chinatown, providing more and better support for member businesses, and engaging a project coordinator to work closely with local businesses.
And finally, many of the long-waited improvements to the area will be completed for the CNY celebrations to welcome the Year of the Dragon. These promise to be the most spectacular yet, with nearly 200 guest performers and business leaders participating from Chengdu, the City's 2012 Chinese partner city, and a unique exhibition from Beijing’s famous Red Gate Gallery, as well as over 80 other events, including the Sydney-Chengdu Business Forum on January 30.
I wish all of you a really enjoyable Christmas and Chinese New Year with your families and friends, and look forward to seeing you again next year.
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2012 Food Lovers’ Guide launched at Chamber’s Christmas Party
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The new, expanded 2012 Food Lovers’ Guide to Chinatown & Haymarket launched with a flourish at the Chamber’s Christmas party on December 14. The event was generously hosted by The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant in Market City, with attractive door prizes from Forex Capital Trading, the Holiday Inn, Car Accessories and Aaron’s Hotel. About 120 people attended, including special guest speakers Deputy Lord Mayor Robert Kok, and 2010 Masterchef Winner Adam Liaw, Chamber members, friends and media representatives.
Seasonal good cheer and excellent food and drink were the backdrop for presenting the new Foodlovers Guide.  Following a general introduction by Cllr Kok, a good friend of the Chamber since its foundation five years ago, the honours were done by Adam Liaw, who has strong links with Chinatown.
His international culinary experience certainly qualifies him as an expert authority on “Sydney’s most food –friendly precinct.” What's more, as he explained in an impromptu interview with Chamber President Brad Chan, he is half Chinese - despite his distinctly Japanese appearance! “Chinatown is the obvious choice for great food," Liaw said. "With so many top-class restaurants, It’s the best place to eat Asian food in Australia.” Read more | |
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New City grant will boost Haymarket business in 2012
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 A new iPhone app. featuring self-guided walking tours of Chinatown will soon be available under a $72,000 grant for the Haymarket Chamber from the new Village Business Partnership Grant Program, approved by the City in early December. The Chamber plans to use the funding across four key projects: 
* Working with the City on major developments throughout the precinct, including activating laneways with public art, transforming public spaces like Belmore Park and Dixon Street, and contributing to the Chinese New Year Festival and Sydney China Business Forum;
* Developing an iPhone app featuring self-guided walking tours of Chinatown's historical features, in order to preserve the rich history and cultural heritage of the precinct;
* Producing new materials for member businesses, including a newsletter, membership cards and banners, as well as offering website maintenance support; and
* Engaging a new project coordinator to work closely with local businesses on a wide variety of projects.
The City's Village Business Partnership Program was launched in December 2010 and awarded its first grant in August this year.
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4A and EDG host exhibition opening
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 Non-profit Chamber members the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Eat Drink Give teamed up to present a memorable creative evening for an excellent cause on December 7. Well over 100 people braved the rain to enjoy an exclusive preview of the provocative sculptures of Chinese-Australian artist Shen Shaomin, accompanied by mouth -watering food and drink from EDG.Shen-Shaomin is one of several controversial Chinese artists who lived in Sydney from the 1990’s, but is now based in Beijing. His haunting exhibition, The Day After Tomorrow , asks critical questions about the damage human society has inflicted on the natural world in pursuit of progress, featuring eerily lifelike human and animal figures resting- and breathing- peacefully on beds of salt.
The exhibition opening was  part of Eat, Drink Give’s “food without prejudice” program Read more | |
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Update on Chinatown’s future
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 In early December the City briefed local business owners and residents on progress to date with the Chinatown Public Domain Plan, adopted last year after extensive consultation.
Opening the session at the Haymarket Holiday Inn, Lord Mayor Clover Moore commented on the dynamic atmosphere in the area “ - despite all the work that is going on, people are still out there, as usual! …”
CoS spokesperson Lisa Dodd said that the long-awaited Tourist Information Kiosk is due to open in Dixon Street by CNY 2012, and that improvements in Kimber Lane, Factory Street and Little Hay street, including planting golden rain trees, wider footpaths, seating and decorative light boxes, are almost finished. “Around 25,000 pedestrians walk through Dixon Street daily in summer, and the aim is to make this more enjoyable “by creating more footpath space and new places for public art." In cooperation with the 4A Gallery, the City has prepared a public art strategy for Chinatown, and one idea being considered is to create a modern version of the traditional Chinese sculpture garden
Outlining the next steps, City designer Bridget Smyth said the immediate focus will now be on Thomas and Hay Streets. Read more | |
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New Chinatown study proposed to aid future planning
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 A major new study has been proposed by the University of Western Sydney’s Centre for Cultural Research on the future of Chinatown, as one of Sydney's most important cultural precincts. It would explore Chinatown's changing identity in the face of globalisation and growing Chinese and Asian influences in the region. It would also look at the City's role in Australia's evolving economic relationship with Asia.
The City of Sydney has committed $75,000 over three years, plus significant in-kind support to the project, "Sydney's Chinatown in the Asian Century: Spaces, Networks and Identities".
The Centre for Cultural Research, which from 2012 will change its name to the “Institute for Culture and Society”, is committed to building the cultural intelligence Australia needs to “address the cultural challenges and contradictions of a 21st century world that is increasingly globalised, diverse and technologically mediated.”
"Sydney's Chinatown in the Asian Century" would give the City important new research across four key areas of interest: Read more | |
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Engaging China: major business forum launches
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 The Sydney China Business Forum was launched in Sydney at Customs House on November 29. A new initiative of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, it will be an annual event which aims to strengthen knowledge, skills and networks with China, focusing particularly on business development and emerging markets. Backed by the City of Sydney and leading business groups, the Forum combines the expertise of more than 150 researchers at the China Studies Centre with that of global business advisors KPMG.
Presented by the China Studies Centre and Caixin Media, the 2011 Forum brought together more than 130 Australian and Chinese government and business leaders to discuss current challenges and emerging opportunities, including new investment possibilities in agriculture and health, Australia's role in China's currency distribution and the importance of Australia's defence strategy to its business relationship with China. Among keynote speakers were the Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan and Hu Shuli, editor-in-chief of the Caixin business and finance media group.
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Be part of the CNY Sydney-Chengdu Business Forum !
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 As part of the Chinese New Year festivities, City of Sydney is hosting the Sydney-Chengdu Business Forum 2012 on Monday 30 January, as an opportunity to build cultural and economic ties between the two cities and explore areas of trade, investment and cultural exchange. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, has been elected one of the top ten cities in China to invest in and 133 of the world’s biggest international companies had subsidiaries or branch offices in the city by October 2009.
China’s rapidly urbanising population is demanding more sophisticated services, such as education, banking, financial and wealth management services, architecture and design, green technologies and tourism. Further collaboration between Australia and China in these areas could be productive, and this forum will create opportunities for Sydney and Chengdu government and business leaders in specialist industries to discuss trade, investment and areas of growth.
The Sydney-Chengdu Business Forum 2012 will include a Plenary and Official Ceremony to open, two concurrent business exchange forums in Education and Finance, Insurance and Business Services, Read more | |
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Three Consortia shortlisted for Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct
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 Infrastructure NSW was recently appointed to lead the delivery of the 12-hectareSydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct project at Darling Harbour and on December 1 the NSW Government that three consortia have been shortlisted to build and operate the facilities. A mix of local and international players, they are:·
Destination Sydney comprising AEG Ogden Pty Ltd, Lend Lease Project Management and Construction, Spotless Facility Services Pty Ltd, Lend Lease Developments, Capella Capital Pty Ltd and InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd.·
Key Partners comprising Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction Ltd, John Laing Investments Ltd, Macquarie Capital Group Ltd, GL Events and Honeywell Ltd.·
VeNuSW comprising Plenary Group Ltd, Brookfield Multiplex P/L, Brookfield Multiplex Services Pty Ltd and Suntec Int. Convention & Exhibition Services Pte Ltd. Read more | |
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Business Floor Space and Employment Survey in progress
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 Every five years the City of Sydney Council conducts a Floor Space and Employment Survey. The Survey involves collecting data relating to all businesses, floor space and employment throughout the City of Sydney LGA.
From December 2011, field surveyors will contact businesses and request access to their premises for the purposes of observing and recording the relevant data. They will be trained to create minimal or no intrusion to business operators and to minimise the time spent on the premises.
Once collected, data are entered into a comprehensive GIS database and the results are used to provide long term strategic planning for the City. Aggregated data that protect the confidentiality of businesses will also be made available to the public via an interactive web application, due for launch in June 2012. The data and web application can be used for business planning, mapping and general benchmarking of all industries, employment and floor space across the LGA.
For further information about the process of the Survey , visit:-
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/AboutSydney/CityResearch/CityOfSydney/2011SurveyOverview.asp
For results and reports compiled from the 2006 Floor Space & Employment Survey data, visit:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/AboutSydney/CityResearch/CityOfSydney/FloorSpaceAndEmploymentSurvey.asp
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CNY 2012 Festival program
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  To welcome the Year of the Dragon from 20 January to 5 February, Sydney will be transformed, with more than 80 exciting events and a delegation of 160 performers, chefs and business leaders from the City's 2012 Chinese partner city, Chengdu.
There’ll be something for everyone, from the spectacular Twilight Parade, to markets, world-class art exhibitions, film screenings, karaoke competitions, food tours, live performances, dragon boat races, kids' activities….The City has also announced a distinguished line-up of 2012 Festival Ambassadors; MasterChef winner, TV chef and author Adam Liaw; comedian and TV personality Lawrence Leung; doctor, author and TV presenter Cindy Pan; and Paralympic gold medallist Lindy Hou OAM.
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International visitors spent more in 2011
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International visitor expenditure in NSW increased by almost 6% to $6.5 billion in the year ended September 2011, according to the latest International Visitor Survey (IVS) results. Other highlights for NSW were:-
* Expenditure by visitors from Hong Kong was up by 41.2% or an additional $84 million
* Expenditure by visitors from Malaysia was up by 75.3% or an additional $61 million
* Expenditure by visitors from China was up by 6.3% - an additional $70 million - and visitor numbers grew by 4%, to 10.4% of the total, making it the third biggest international market for NSW.
* Mainland China (15.8%) was the biggest contributor of international visitor nights in
the State, followed by the United Kingdom (10.7%) and Korea (9.0%)
* Compared to YE Sep 10, visitor nights from Mainland China grew by 5.5%. 90% of visitors to the State from China stayed in Sydney.
At an estimated average annual growth rate of 3.2%, international visitors to Australia are expected to increase from around 6 million in 2010 to nearly 8.1 million in 2020, with visitor numbers from China rising by 111%.
Sydney Still Top Spot for Domestic Visitors
The latest National Visitor Survey results, released on December 14, show strong growth in domestic visitors to Sydney in the year to September
* Harbour City recorded an eight per cent increase in domestic tourists,
* Domestic visitor nights in Sydney rose by almost six per cent,
* Domestic vsitor expenditure was up by 6.5 per cent. This means visitors to Sydney alone have injected $4.9 billion into the NSW economy - $301 million more than in the previous year.
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Destination NSW continues to focus on China
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 Destination NSW met two Chinese delegations in late November to discuss ways to increase visitor flow from China to NSW. Both groups were visiting as part of study tours to the East Coast of Australia.
One group was from China Eastern Airlines, including representatives from the airline, travel agents and airports, and the other from Hefei city in Anhui province - a city with a population of nearly 6 million -which included government and tourism officials.
Destination NSW briefed the groups on Sydney and NSW and outlined how they could help to encourage more people from China to visit our State.
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WHATS ON
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Soundgarden, Sydney Entertainment Centre
 It’s been fifteen years since they last graced our shores and the first time since 1997 that Soundgarden will again play outside of the USA!
Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd – the Seattle foursome have chosen the Big Day Out and the Sydney Entertainment Centre to mark their triumphant return to the international stage …
Soundgarden tickets from $96.10
When: Wed 25 January 2012, 7:30 PM
Bookings Web: Ticketmaster;
Telephone: 1300 883 622
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Hanggai 2011/2012 Australian Tour
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 Hanggai comes straight from the steppes of Mongolia, via Beijing, blending traditional music and upbeat rock. Their music embraces the world of rock, pop and bluegrass as seen and heard by a new generation of Chinese. They sing about Mongolian Robin Hoods, mix throat singing with rock instruments and dress like men of the steppes even though they live in China’s vast modern capital..
After a great year in Asia, the US and Australia, in 2012 they are returning to Europe, Australia, Japan and the America’s. Summer 2011/2012 brings Hanggai back to Australia, with two shows in Sydney
When: Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 January
The Basement, Sydney www.thebasement.com.au
7 Macquarie Pl, Circular Quay NSW
Ph. 02 9251 2797
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Member Profile: Carolyn West, Surfside Hotels
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 Meet Carolyn West….
The second of three sisters, I grew up in the beachside suburb of Maroubra. I have 2 children, aged 18 and 20.
My first job at a real estate agency in Double Bay lasted 7 years and I still hold my Real Estate Agent’s licence. I left to join our family business, which was manufacturing and selling casino equipment, and running one pub. We later sold the casino business to concentrate on the Surfside Hotel Group and at one stage owned 12 pubs. Of the 7 we currently operate, 5 are in the Haymarket & Surry Hills area:- Star Hotel, Market City Tavern, Mountbatten Hotel, Triple Ace Bar, Evening Star Hotel
Who has most influenced your life?
It’s an old cliché, but my parents have influenced me the most. My mum has always stressed the importance of being honest and reliable. My father, Keith Kelly, taught
me to be decisive. He also did not believe in women or men having to do stereotypical jobs – it was the most capable person to do the job that mattered. When he disagreed with other people’s opinion on how to do things, he used to say “Go and buy your own pub” Read more | |
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New DA’s for Haymarket
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Welcome to new members
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Redbridge Grant Samuel
AlphaSys
Leanne Kitchen
Dong Guo Design
Menya Noodle Bar
Meeting Point
SatangThai Exclusive
ZoZo
Dae Jang Kum Korean BBQ
Delima Restaurant
Silk Road Chinese Halal Restaurant
Uighur Cuisine
Twisted Noodle Bar
Red Chilli Szechuan
Chinese Noodle House
Taste of Shanghai
Palate
UMI KAITEN SUSHI
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Dates to diary
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January 3 & 4: Hanggai at the Basement
January 20 : February 5 CNY 2012 Festival program
January 25: Soundgarden at the Sydney Entertainment Centre
January 30: Sydney-Chengdu Business Forum
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Around seventy tourism industry professionals from across NSW met in Sydney at the end of November to discuss how overnight visitor expenditure in the State can be doubled by 2020. The Visitor Economy Taskforce Consultation Workshop, organised by NSW Trade and Investment, was their opportunity to exchange ideas on the current state of the tourism industry with a Taskforce panel that included Sandra Chipchase, Destination NSW’s new CEO. 
The City of Sydney Library and the Australian Chinese Artists’ Society are proud to present a free demonstration of China’s beautiful, ancient art form: calligraphy. See skilled artists create elegant couplets with an expressive, fluid hand and then take one home for free! What better way to celebrate the Chinese New Year?
405-411 Sussex Street HAYMARKET NSW 2000