The Pearl Award is pronounced “Bo Le Jiang” in Mandarin Chinese.  “Bo Le” is a phonetic homonym of “pearl”, but it is also the name of a famous man from the Warring States period, renowned for his ability to identify a thoroughbred amongst a herd of horses. Even today, the name signifies a gift for picking out the best from the masses, an idea in keeping with the aims both of the Foundation and the Awards themselves. It is a link that is reinforced by the Chinese proverb, hui yan si zhenzu – meaning that “it takes wise eyes to recognise a precious pearl.”

The objectives of the Pearl Awards are:

• To celebrate the achievement of individuals and organisations of Chinese origin, for their work towards raising the profile and creating a positive image of Chinese people in multi-cultural Britain.

• To recognise the work and achievements of individuals and organisations who have assisted and promoted the Chinese community in all areas of development.

We believe that The Pearl Awards will provide a much-needed and long overdue event to recognise and make Chinese talents visible in Britain.

There are a number of awards highlighting achievements and providing positive images within other ethnic minority groups. In addition to award events from the Commission for Racial Equality and Windrush, there are many others which highlight the achievements of different ethnic minority groups such as the Asian Business Awards, Black Enterprise Awards, Music of Black Origins (MOBO), EMMA Awards, etc - but none that are specifically focused on the Chinese community.

We hope that The Pearl Awards will complement these events and be equally successful in showcasing the breadth of accomplishments of the Chinese in Britain and provide inspiring role models for the Chinese and the wider community.