From the organisers of the Wings of Life concert:

On the evening of 3rd June, a gala concert named as The Wings of Life was held in McEwan Hall, Edinburgh to raise fund for victims of the recent Chinese earthquakes. The performance was organised in chief by the General consulate of P.R. China in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The associative organisers included the Academy of Chinese National Musical Instruments, the Confucius Institute for Scotland and the Chinese Institute in Edinburgh. Highland Festival Media Co., Ltd in Scotland, Edinburgh Festival’s Chinese Co-ordinating Committee and D J Edinburgh Co., Ltd worked as deputy corporators. The show collected performances by some of the best Chinese artists available in Scotland. The zheng performer Yi Dong, initiator of this show and an economic graduate of Edinburgh University, was last November honoured as the first national music performer giving recital in the Great Hall of the People of China. Chinese students from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and other performers participated in the performance. Many Chinese communities, organisations of Chinese students and scholars and local bands in Scotland and Northern Ireland also joined the effort. A charity sale was held during the intervals of the performance.

Madam TAN Xiu-tian, Consul General of China in Edinburgh and Ms. Leslie Ewans, Director for Europe, External Affairs and Culture Directorate, who represented Scottish Executive and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, and Prof. Timothy O’Shea, the Principal of the University of Edinburgh gave speeches in the concert. The concert organisers expressed their appreciation of the presence and support of several figures of financial, cultural, educational and artistic circles and Chinese community. Special thanks are given to China Xinhua News Agency, Beijing Youth Newspaper, Music Weekly Newspaper in China, Global Chinese Broadcasting Entertainment Alliance, Shenzhen Television in China and LinkChinese UK. The box-office income (£17,589.28 in sterling and some RMB237,476.39 in Chinese currency) will soon be forwarded to the Red Cross in China through Chinese General Consulate, together with additional donations from various organisations and individuals.