Beijing Rotary AGM in Johnnie Walker House

Our Beijing Rotary Annual General Meeting

On 29 November Our Club held its AGM in Johnnie Walker House near Qianmen. I visited the House earlier, see:
The Johnnie Walker House in Beijing: simply impressive, see previous post.

So I did not join the tour with the others.
Fifteen members attended thus ensuring the required quorum. The amendments to the club bylaws were approved unanimously. President and incoming board members 2017/18 were also elected:

President             Russell B.
IPP                      Daniel R.
President Elect    Martin G.
Secretary             (position open)
Service                 Lucy M.
Foundation           Jens H.
Membership         Daniel A.
Treasurer             Rene S.
Youth                   Sven H.

(pics provided c/o Rtn Lucy)

A busy evening for our AGM in Johnnie Walker House

Ms. Paloma Sanchez donated a ring to the club for auction during our upcoming Ball on 25 February 2017.
The auction of three whiskeys donated by Johnnie Walker was a big success!
As speaker we had the Swiss Ambassador Dr. de Dardel on the topic of Innovation.
Ambassador de Dardel spoke about innovation in China and Switzerland. Ranking on top of innovative countries, Switzerland has always emphasized innovation with a view of improving people’s livelihood. China and Switzerland have established a cooperation in the field of innovation.

President Daniel R performed the induction of Aish K. who transferred from RC Shanghai.
Rtn Eli K. was made honorary member of our club in acknowledgement of his dedication and continuous support to the club.
Thanks to Rtn Eli for arranging the venue.

2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar

Beijing City International School

On 3 December the 2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar was held again in Shuangjing. Proceeds for the Migrant Children Foundation (MCF) of our Rotarian Helen.
Great job Helen!See: http://mcfchina.org/

Rotaract and Rotary both present

This 2016 BCIS Christmas Bazaar both Rotary Club of Beijing and our Rotaractors were present with a table.
Rotaract sold crafts that were handmade by the kids of MCF school. They raised over 2000 RMB.
Great job by our volunteers Julia, Peter, Vasko, Péha, Elaine, Yvonne and others.

Child safety seats in China

Save Kids Lives Project (SKL).

As reported earlier on Child safety seats, see: https://www.beijing1980.com/2016/11/21/district-sr-frank-yih-rotary-beijing/
As few people know. the leading cause of death in China for children under 14 are traffic accidents, another major cause being drowning.
Ever seen kids sitting in the front seat, or back seat, without protection? Adults in the back seat without a safety belt? Those are major causes of death. Chinese totally ignore the terrible risks. In European countries those attitudes are punishable by law. In case of any accidents the kids simply fly through the front window, normally with instant death.
Our Rotarian James, through his company Ming Jian has been lobbying the authorities on this, with success, at least in Shanghai.
See also (in Chinese):
http://www.mingjian.cn/savekidslives/events

Child safety seats to be made mandatory

See article in Shanghai Daily:
Child safety seats to be made mandatory
By Yang Jian – 10 November 2016
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Child-safety-seats-to-be-made-mandatory/shdaily.shtml

Child safety seats will become mandatory for private cars carrying children under the age of 4, under the city’s draft road and traffic management law released by the Shanghai legislature yesterday.
Using a mobile phone while driving would also be banned, bringing the city into line with many jurisdictions overseas.
The two new clauses would join a raft of offenses that include speeding, incorrect lane changing, not wearing a seatbelt and overloading.
Violators will be fined up to 200 yuan (US$30) and be hit with demerit points.
Drivers who rack up 10 offenses or more will face tougher punishment, under the draft bill’s provisions.

Dementia Awareness Silent Film

The Missing Ring

Our Rotaractors had made a Dementia Awareness Silent Film, “The Missing Ring”.
See here the explanation by Zhiyu Sebastian Yin, one of our Rotaractors who made it:
“I wrote and story and directed the film, and roles were played by many other famous young Oscar winners and Tony nominees. So sit back, enjoy this almost 17 minutes long film with your loved ones.”
Title:” Dementia Awareness Silent Film The Missing Ring”
You can watch it on YouTube here (you need a VPN in China): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6OeI4dK3bM

I think the movie is just great.

Now watch it here

It took me some time to figure out how to reduce the size of the movie and post it here.
So, finally:

The background

On Sunday 22 November, Rotaract volunteers braved the snow to visit the Skilled Nursing Home (Long Zhen Senior Care)  for retired seniors, in Laiguangying. See:

November 2015: a busy month for Rotaract Beijing

For the pictures:
Rotaractors putting a smile on seniors

Rotaractors putting a smile on seniors

Rotaract program for senior homes, see:

Rotaract Club Beijing, nursing homes and Lyrics Cafe

Surprise party at Beer Mania, the movie

Surprise party at Beer Mania for Diane

Surprise party at Beer Mania for Diane: See the earlier post: https://www.beijing1980.com/2016/09/15/surprise-party-at-beer-mania-for-diane/

The movie

Rotaractors made a small clip about the event. I am finally happy to upload it here. I avoided Youtube as there might be an annoying “IPR” issue with the background music…