On behalf of the Special Olympics athlete, families, and staff from the East Asia region, I want to thank all of our sponsors, friends and volunteers for their support throughout the year of 2006. We wish you a very happy Chinese new year!

We had an amazing year and we could not have done it without your help and encouragement. As we look towards the year of the pig, we aim to make our e-newsletter a more efficient tool of communication as a way to share our news and our accomplishments with you. 2006 was a tremendous year for Special Olympics in East Asia!

Some of the year's highlights include the following:

•   The 2006 Special Olympic Shanghai Invitational Games was successfully conducted in Shanghai, which brought together 2,200 athletes from 100 countries and regions.

•  Zhang Ziyi announced  her involvement as a Special Olympics Global Ambassador during the “Special Olympics For Social Harmony” forum held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.

•  Special Olympics Korea successfully conducted the first “East Asia Golf Tournament”, which hosted 66 athletes from six countries and regions.

•  Special Olympics Chinese Taipei conducted the “2006 Special Olympics East Asia Regional Bocce Competition” with more than 600 athletes from six countries and regions.

•  Both Special Olympics China and Special Olympics Korea held respective National Games in 2006; five different programs from the East Asia region were involved.

2007 promises to be an exciting year for the region as well. In October 2007, Shanghai, China will be the world stage for the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games. These games will bring together over 7,000 athletes from 170 countries around the world, celebrating the abilities and potential of people with intellectual disabilities.

We look forward to sharing more athlete accomplishments and stories with you over the course of the year. We gladly welcome your feedback and comments .

Happy Chinese New Year!

Best wishes,

Yan-Pui Tsin (YP)