On Tuesday evening 8 March a special evening instead of our usual lunch: a Middle East dinner at 1001 Nights Restaurant in Solana. Many thanks to Rtn Eli for organizing this nice dinner.

We had two speakers!

The Ambassador of Cyprus gave us an introduction of Cyprus
Mr. Agis Loizou is currently the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the People’s Republic of China, with parallel accreditations to Japan, Republic of Korea, DPRK, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia.
Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and a member state of the European Union. An island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, it is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt and east of Greece. Being at the crossroads of civilizations, Cyprus was over the centuries exposed to many foreign influences which have shaped its rich and unique culture. Ambassador Loizou explained Cyprus’s history, religion, wine and cuisine.

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Here is a selection of pictures (Gilbert & Celine)

The second speaker was Ms. Lucia Helms, introducing “Chunmiao Little Flower”.
See: Chunmiao Little Flower
Ms. Lucia Helms is a volunteer at Chunmiao Little Flower, a non-profit organization registered in both US and China that seeks to save abandoned children with complex medical needs. Through skilled, intensive nursing care, education, and family-oriented foster care, Little Flower seeks to improve the livelihood of children of all ages with a wide range of health challenges – from cleft lip & palate to heart defects. Administrative overheads are covered by specific donations, 100% of all other donations go directly toward the costs for childcare.
An auction of six bottles of liquor donated by Ambassador Loizou and 1001 Nights, a donation by 1001 Nights and the Happy Money raised over RMB 6000 which was handed over to Chunmiao Little Flower.
As for the belly dancing we were looking for, something went wrong and the lady skipped us.

On 23 February we had Andrey Kirillov as our speaker, on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
This time we had a dinner in the Four Seasons Hotel, instead of the usual lunch in Kempinski Hotel. I was once more acting Sergeant-at-Arms…

(Thanks Celine for the pics!)

He explained the SCO, its history and structure. It is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. These countries, except for Uzbekistan had been members of the Shanghai Five, established in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, members renamed the organization. In July 2015, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members, and they are expected to join by 2016. The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations’ security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. A Framework Agreement to enhance economic cooperation was signed by SCO member states in 2003. In 2009, China announced plans to provide a US$10 billion loan to SCO member states to shore up the struggling economies of its members amid the global financial crisis.
I invited Andrey to join my “Old China Hands Lunch” as he is a China veteran.

On Tuesday 19 January we had as speaker Mr. David Kelly. His topic: Going Global 2.0 on Capacity Cooperation.

Mr. David Kelly works at China Policy. With interests encompassing a sweep of issues affecting China’s domestic reforms and its strategic positioning, David leads the governance and law, and geopolitics teams at China Policy. He has a particular interest in the external impact of China’s governance model.
A skilled workshop facilitator and driver of organizational learning on China, David is known for leading tough, China-grounded debate in corporate boardrooms. A sought-after international media commentator, he frequently appears on the BBC, Voice of America, Australian ABC, Al Jazeera and in leading print media.
In his speech David focused on China’s new globalization drive and how it differed from the country’s earlier going out initiatives.

The President of the Rotary Club of Beijing attended our weekly Rotaract meeting at Lyrics Cafe (SOHO Sanlitun) on 18 January.

He was impressed by our dynamic group of Rotaractors, coming from all corners around the world )Belgium, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Holland, China, Guyana, and maybe more. Good job by the Rotaract President Anissa!
I hope we can see more Rotarians attending!

On 26 January we had the pleasure to have Thomas as a speaker. Before he even started I bought his book “China In Those Days”, a remarkable collection of postcards showing a much forgotten past of China. One more example of how foreigners have been much more engaged preserving China’s history and culture. Other examples are the preservation of hutongs and antiques.
The book is not for sale on the market, so a really precious volume.
The Tuesday Speaker, Mr. Thomas Brandt, talked indeed about “China In Those Days”

Thomas Brandt is General Manager of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is a passionate collector of post cards and view cards. He is the author of several publications focusing on Asia. Furthermore Mr. Brandt has written four books in the field of intercultural management, journals and handbooks. His bestseller “China in Those Days” was published in 2008.
In his presentation Mr. Brandt used pictures from his collection of around 49.000 postcards and view cards from the years 1890 to 1914. His collection presents a photographic report of the political upheavals in China of the Qing Dynasty. It also visualizes the phenomenon of overseas Chinese, which is still of high relevance in recent history. The historical pictures took the audience to a journey to the early 20th century in China, an era when it was a privilege to send or receive postcards from a country as far away as China.