Great attendance

Beijing Rotary Gala 15 March 2025: the Kempinski ballroom hosted over 200 guests who were served a delicious dinner with champagne, wines and more. It was also to celebrate the 101 anniversary of the Rotary Club of Beijing.
Ambassadors of Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Philippines attended along with officials of embassies –  Slovakia, Colombia,. Honduras, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Kenia and more. And besides our Chinese guests, foreign participants from many countries. Rotarians from other clubs joined the members of the Beijing Club.

The Gala is organized to promote the projects of our Rotary Club. See a short overview. Proceeds were collected by the Chinese Hebei Hospital, our partner for the hypospadias project, see details here.

UWEE was a major sponsor and also contributed ten children’s paintings for the silent auction, paintings from the annual exhibition in the Louvre, Paris. See a short introduction of the UWEE Group. The group also contributed to the entertainment.
UWEE issued a short article about the event, see here the Chinese version with a Google translation: 250315 UWEEreport.

Pictures shown are a selection of the many pictures taken during the event, all downsized.

Highlights of the program

• Reception in Ballroom Foyer started at 6pm; guests were welcomed and some were interviewed by UWEE; the ballroom doors opened at 6:45pm,
• Rtn Daniel acted as the MC.
• Speaker: Rene Schmitt, President of Rotary Club of Beijing introduces Hypospadias Partners, President Cao of Hebei Charitable and Deputy Director Cui of Hebei Hospital; film showing the Rotarians Visit to Hebei Hospital on March 1.
• Performance by Alina, Piano Recital followed by Alina and twin boys, 6 hands piano (UWEE).. The twin boys are the sons of Mr. Yan Fei.
• Performance – Xinjiang Dance Show (UWEE) – Dongzhimenwai Angran Dance Group (12 ladies aged 65 to 74) – group picture with embassy guests.
• Group picture of Rotary Members
• Brian and Kevin playing our favorite tunes.
• Greg Lutrell and Band – Dancing opened with performance of Cuban dancers (UWEE).

See a small video clip “Rotary Club of Beijing Gala 15 March 2025”

UWEE tables

UWEE Group took four tables, bringing together ambassadors, officials and Chinese friends..

Gilbert as Rotating Chairman of the UWEE Group was the host of the ambassadors table, together with Mr. Yan Fei, President of the Group. The ambassadors of Belgium, Philippines, Luxembourg and Switzerland all enjoyed the evening.

Low profile

With the Chinese legal framework for foreign NGO it has been till now impossible to register our clubs in China. We cautiously observe the Chinese regulations so our permitted activities are limited.
The Rotary Club of Beijing celebrated a milestone in history, a 100 years anniversary.in a magnificent event at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing, on Saturday April 20, 2024. See here for the details.
It has completely changed the work we operate. See as an example the 080819_bulletin of 19 August 2008, previously posted on our website with pictures. We had to stop all that.
Rotary China has however now a general homepage.

Change of guard

According to Rotary rules, all clubs have a new team starting on 1 July, for one year.
On 25 June 2024 during a dinner in the Capital Mansion Club we thanked the old team with president René and welcomed the new team with president Ralf.

On 2 July 2024 the new president Ralf hosted his first meeting.

At the occasion he showed the congratulatory letter from the RI president Stephanie Urchick for the 100 years of the club; it was admitted to the Rotary family on 30 August 1924.
It was also the day to celebrate the birthdays of the month.

Lunch 3 September 2024

Mr. Yves Nzeyimana, AG for District 9214 (Uganda and Tanzania) and from the RC Arusha Mount Meru visited our club during our lunch in Kempinski Hotel.

In his newsletter he gave a nice overview:

RC Beijing has been involved in several community projects among which “Gift of Life” (350 surgeries for children with Congenital Heart Disease); “The Library Project” (over 160 libraries to migrant schools); the Maple Women’s Psychological Counseling Center (hotline for women who need urgent assistance); China Literacy Project (assisting poor families); Morning Tears House in Zhengzhou; Sun’s Children Village; aiding schools for developmentally disabled children (the Minkang and Fortune Schools teach basic living skills to developmentally disabled children); providing 1250 new wheelchairs to needy people; a medical van to the Hebei Children’s hospital, in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province; matriculation and fees for a student  in Henan University of Chinese Medicine, among others.

Lunch 10 September 2024

During our lunch in Kempinski Hotel we had as speaker Mr. Billy Gao.
Topic: “A Brief Introduction to Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the PRC”.

Billy is a lawyer with GAOPENG & PARTNER (Beijing office) and he is also an arbitrator in China. He has practiced Chinese law for over 15 years and his practice areas cover dispute resolution, M&A, international trade, and competition law.

Lunch 24 September 2024

During our lunch in Kempinski Hotel Fernando gave a talk: “Real Estate Development in UK and EU”.

Fernando de Zuniga, a Spanish architect spoke about his company, specialized in real estate development and investment projects in Poland, UK and Spain. He also spoke about his new project, a padel club in London. Fernando has moved to Beijing a year ago.
We had the visit of a delegation of several Rotary clubs in Germany, led by our former member Monica who is now with the RC of Berlin-Kurfürstendamm.

100 years Rotary Club of Beijing

The report by Rtn Helen gives a nice overview of a Rotary Club of Beijing celebration.
The Rotary Club of Beijing celebrated a milestone in history, a 100 years anniversary. 200 people attended what proved to be a magnificent event at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing, on Saturday April 20, 2024.
It was a night to be remembered in so many ways. Rotarians, their families and friends were entertained with fine food, fine wine and fine music and from the photos taken on the evening, it is obvious that everyone thoroughly enjoyed what was laid on.
Beijing Rotarian President Rene Schmitt and his team left no stone unturned in ensuring everyone‘s expectations were met.

The dance floor was always the epicenter of the evening’s activities, with the choice of classical, live band and DJ music.
Prior to this, the Kempinski Hotel laid on a fine 4 course meal followed by the cutting of the 100 year celebratory cake.
And to cater for the collectors and art lovers, there was a host of objet d’art items donated by members and friends for both the silent auction and the raffle.
The proceeds of the evening reflected the generous nature of the guests and was donated to the Beijing Club’s chosen charity, funding Hypospadias Surgery for children.
It only remains to be said that the spirit of Rotary was found to be in every corner of the room on the night and it was a night to be remembered by all those that were fortunate enough to be present in celebrating the Beijing Club’s 100 year anniversary.

UWEE tables and support

Once again the UWEE Group (Union of Western and Eastern Education) supported the event, with two tables and entertainment.
We welcomed representatives from the embassies of Belgium, Luxembourg, Philippines, Moldova, Bahamas, Solomon Islands, South Pacific Islands, AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) along with other Chinese and foreign VIPs.
Jane from UWEE interviewed some of our guests.

UWEE also brought some special entertainment. The 9-year old twins (sons of the CEO of UWEE) played piano and Max, a primary school student, 11 years old, played the accordion.
They joined the impressive musical performances of the other musicians.
The evening was a real success, with speeches from Rene, our Club’s President,  the Hebei Children’s Hospital, our partner for the Gift of Life and hypospadias.
The raffle and silent auction brought a lot of excitement, many lucky winners!

An evening of pictures, mingling and history

The ballroom was filled with excitement, people going around, meeting old and new friends, taking pictures, and dancing.

And yes, the food was great and so was the wine – thanks to our sponsors!
The guests received a short introduction to the history of our club.

For the full history, see it here, “100 years Rotary Club of Beijing”.
It was a challenge to select the pictures to publish. Sorry for all the nice pics I could not post!