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      • American Samoa
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      • Australia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bahrain
      • Bangladesh
      • Bhutan
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Central Asia
      • China
      • Cook Islands

      • Cyprus
      • East Asia
      • East Timor
      • Fiji
      • French Polynesia
      • Georgia
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      • Indonesia
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      • Israel
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      • Lebanon
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      • Malaysia
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      • Marshall Islands
      • Micronesia
      • Mongolia
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      • Nauru
      • Nepal
      • New Caledonia
      • New Zealand
      • Niue
      • North Korea
      • Northern Marianas
      • Oceania
      • Oman
      • Pakistan
      • Palau
      • Palestine
      • Papua New Guinea
      • Philippines
      • Qatar
      • Samoa
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • Solomon Islands
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      • Southeast Asia
      • South Korea
      • Sri Lanka
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Tajikistan
      • Thailand
      • Tibet
      • Tokelau
      • Tonga
      • Turkey
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Asia Society Honors I.M. Pei, Other 'Asia Game Changers' at United Nations

November 1st, 2016
I.M. Pei accepts his Asia Society Asia Game Changer award with his family at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Karim Wasfi performs at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Kevin Rudd (R) presents Ahmad Sarmast with his Asia Society Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Charles Rockefeller present Sanduk Ruit (C) with his Asia Society Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Sanduk Ruit accepts his Asia Society Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Marita Cheng accepts her Asia Society Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Marita Cheng is presented with her Asia Society Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Lulu Wang (L) and Ronnie Chan (R) present an award at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Joey Alexander performs at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Muzoon Almellehan (L) and Marita Cheng at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Zhang Yimou (L), Joey Alexander (C), and Soo-Man Lee at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)
Awardees at the Asia Society Asia Game Changers awards at the United Nations in New York on October 27, 2016. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)
The Asia Game Changer Award (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Kevin Rudd (L) presents an award to Ahmad Sarmast (R) at the Asia Game Changer Awards at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Karim Wasfi (L) receives an Asia Game Changer Award from Kevin Rudd (R) at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Karim Wasfi accepts an Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Muzoon Almellehan accepts an Asia Game Changer award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Ziauddin Yousafzai (L), Muzoon Almellehan (C), and Muzoon's father (R) show off her Asia Game Changer Award on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Oscar Tang (L), Zhang Yimou (C), and Agnes Hsu-Tang (R) with Zhang's Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Zhang Yimou accepts his Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Durreen Shahnaz accepts her Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016 (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Adrian Keller (R) and Robert Niehaus (L) present Durreen Shahnaz with her Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society).
Henrietta H. Fore (R) and Kim Won-Soo (L) presents Soo-Man Lee with an Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Soo-Man Lee accepts his Asia Game Changer Award at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Asia Game Changers pose together at the United Nations on October 27, 2016. (Jamie Watts/Asia Society)
Enlarge Hide captions

Asia Society honored the legendary architect I.M. Pei with a lifetime achievement award at the third annual Asia Game Changer Awards, an Asia Society celebration held at the United Nations in New York on Thursday night. In addition to Pei, nine other notable Asians were honored for their impact in shaping the world.

Born in China, the 99-year-old Pei is responsible for a number of iconic structures, including the pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, Hong Kong's Bank of China building, and the Kennedy Library. He is also known for his role as a teacher to successive generations of architects. Accompanied by his daughter and grandchildren, Pei addressed the crowd with characteristic humility. "Thank you all for coming. I have nothing to say," he quipped before he expressed his gratitude for the recognition.

Thursday's honorees included Ahmad Sarmast and Karim Wasfi, musicians from Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively, who established music academies amid persistent violence in their countries; Marita Cheng, whose startup Robogals has provided opportunities for women in engineering; Durreen Shahnaz, a pioneering Wall Street financier turned social entrepreneur from Bangladesh; the acclaimed, award-winning Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou; Muzoon Almellehan, a Syrian refugee whose advocacy of education has earned her comparisons to Nobel laureate (and 2014 Asia Game Changer) Malala Yousafzai; and Soo-Man Lee, a Korean impresario under whose stewardship K-pop has emerged as a global phenomenon. 

A common theme uniting this year's batch of Asia Game Changers is their courage. Their ranks include Sanduk Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon who has cured blindness in some of Asia's poorest countries, including North Korea, and has made eye care affordable and accessible to many others. Sarmast, the Afghan musician, who established the National Institute of Music in Kabul in 2008 when he found there was no orchestra in the country capable of playing the Afghan national anthem. He has educated hundreds of aspiring musicians in the years since, even after surviving a deadly terrorist attack in 2014. And Wasfi, a member of the Iraqi national symphony, who traveled to the site of car bombings in Baghdad to play his cello in the midst of rubble, turning his viral fame into a vehicle for promoting music in his country.

"This is not just devoted to the lives that have been lost — but to those who have decided to live the right," Wasfi said of his award. "It's not just about how we die. It's about how we live."

In 2013, Almellehan arrived at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan after fleeing her Dara'a, Syria, in the midst of that country's civil war. In this unlikely setting, Muzoon emerged as a forceful advocate for education, in particular stressing the rights of girls to go to school. Now 17, Muzoon's efforts have earned her comparisons to Malala. Despite the teenager's impressive accomplishments, she refused to use her acceptance speech to talk about herself.

"I'm here for millions of children who have lost their hopes and dreams and cannot get their right to an education," she said. "Most people think we cannot change our communities. But we can. Change is difficult. But it's not impossible. We need our knowledge — because our countries need us."

Remarkably, Muzoon wasn't even the youngest Game Changer at this year's ceremony. That would be Joey Alexander, the 13-year-old Indonesian piano prodigy, who dazzled the guests with a performance of an original composition, "City Lights," that kicked off the show. "I don't see myself as a game changer," he said in accepting his award. "I'm a musician — and I play jazz." But, he allowed, "you can make a difference even when you're very young."

As the evening wound to a close, Alexander approached the stage for his second performance of the evening. There, he was joined on stage by Wasfi, the cellist, for an impromptu jazz duet set against the backdrop of the East River — an appropriate way to conclude a celebration of ten remarkable individuals.

Watch the acceptance speeches of each Asia Society Asia Game Changer below:










Related Links

  • Asia Society 2016 Asia Game Changer Awards (official website)
asia game changers
im pei
josette sheeran
zhang yimou
joey alexander
durreen shahnaz
marita cheng
united nations
photos
60th anniversary
current affairs
kevin rudd
ahmad sarmast
karim wasfi
soo-man lee
malala yousafzai
muzoon almellehan
2016

About the Author

Profile picture for user Matt Schiavenza

Matt Schiavenza is the Assistant Director of Content at Asia Society and Senior Editor of Asia Society Magazine. His work has appeared at The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, The Wire China, and strategy + business among other publications.

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