Rotary Club of Beijing

Introducing the Rotary Club of Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

History

Before introducing the Rotary Club of Beijing, a bit of history.
The first meeting leading towards the establishment of the Rotary Club Peking took place over tea on January 18th 1923 when fifteen Americans and one Chinese met in the Wagon Lits Hotel in Peking.
The RC Peking with 22 charter member, was finally admitted by Rotary International (RI) on August 30, 1924.
The Club ceased to function on December 8th 1941 when the Wagon Lits Hotel, which served as the club’s headquarter, was taken over by the Japanese for their own use for many years.
RI re-admitted the RC of Peiping with thirty charter members on August 14th 1946, giving it the old Club No. 1814.
On July 18th 1950, RI approved once again the change of the name to Rotary Club of Peking.
On June 26th 1951 RI terminated the membership of the RC Peking and declared the Charter null and void.

Read the full story: RCBhistory by GVK

The item “Provisional Rotary Club Beijing” was placed on the agenda of the June 2001 RI Board meeting. The RI board passed the motion to grant provisional status not only to Beijing but Shanghai as well, on 16 June 2001.
The Rotary Club of Beijing (Provisional) on 31 March 2005 had 53 members and 7 honorary members. President: Mosud Mannan – President Elect: Carl-Ludwig Dörwald.
On 8 February 2006 The Rotary Club of Beijing was formally chartered by RI, signed by RI President Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar.
In that Charter year the Club had 57 members from about 16 different countries with Carl- Ludwig Doerwald – Charter President 2005-2006.
RCB received the new charter on 3 April 2014 referring to the original charter date of 30 August 1924.

What is Rotary, Rotaract & Interact?

Rotary International (https://www.rotary.org/en) is the world’s largest member charity organization with over 1.2 million members belonging to approximately 35,000+ clubs in over 200 countries and territories.
Founded in 1906 in Chicago by Paul Harris and a group of Chicago business philanthropists, it has its current headquarters located in Evanston IL and administers the world’s largest charity trust fund with more than $2 billion which has been significantly boosted by major contributions from the Gates Foundation and Warren Buffet; both of whom have historical family ties to Rotary.

Rotary International’s current Global Flagship Project is called ‘Polio Plus’ which is in its 36th year and has successfully reduced the global headcount of Polio sufferers from more than 350,000 at the campaign commencement to close to zero globally today and zero cases in India for more than 5 years.
See the details here: Rotary_introduction
and: Rotary_factsheet

Sadly we had to terminate our two Rotaract Clubs, due to lack of student members. We still have the Dulwich and ISB Interact Clubs.

RCB is back!

Rotary Club of Beijing, District 0052, Club Number: 60724.
In January 2022:
  Number of Members: 30
  Average age: 53
  Male – 89% Female – 11%

I became myself a member on 11 January 2005.
RCB has been involved in many projects serving the community.
Some: Gift of Life (surgeries for congenital heart disease), The Library Project, and many more.
Current examples: surgeries for hypospadias and HOPE (Horses Offering People Enrichment), among other.
See https://www.beijing1980.com/2017/04/13/hypospadias-surgeries-need-support/

A look back on the Rotary Club of Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Dinner in Morel’s

A look back at the Rotary Club of Beijing, starting with our dinner on 18 January. Small crowd with a special guest, Jingfu, honorary member of the Rotary Club of Shanghai.

We were impressed with our member Kevin who fasted one day so he could deal with the really big trout (I usually recommend it for 3 people to share).

Krankin’ thru China

“Krankin’ thru China”, a program launched by Joshua Dominick and Domonic Corradin, helps people with physical disabilities enjoy outdoor sports like paragliding, horseback riding, swimming, surfing and cycling. They presented their project to our club, on 10 August 2021, see: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/09/15/rotary-beijing-in-summer-part-1/

They were featured in an article by China Daily:
19 January 2022 – Overcoming hurdles:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202201/19/WS61e75db2a310cdd39bc81e61_6.html
See attached the full article: 220119 Krankin

Otto Bock

See this article of Business Beijing of 1 June 2007 to read how our Georg Hoffman started working with protheses. See: 070601 OttoBock
He presented his project in our club on 17 August 2021.

See earlier post: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/09/15/rotary-beijing-in-summer/

That’s January 2022

Happy to read this article: 220101 poledancing
I quote:
“Despite studios trying to promote the benefits, there is still a stigma attached to the sport by those who don’t fully understand it.
When I tell some guys I’m a pole dancer, they say, ‘Oh, you’re a stripper?’ I don’t get offended, they just don’t understand that pole dancing doesn’t have to be linked to stripping. I think a lot of people still don’t understand pole dancing and it’s still very niche.”

Indeed some in my circle made a scandal about pole dancing, being pretty ignorant about it.
See my earlier posts:
Pole dancing is a sport, https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/06/30/pole-dancing-is-a-sport/
Pole dancing is a sport (part 2), https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/06/30/pole-dancing-is-a-sport-part-2/

21 December 2021 Rotary lunch with inductions

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Kempinski

On Tuesday 21 December 2021 Rotary lunch with inductions followed by a presentation by Rtn Victor.

Rtn Kevin presided the meeting and Gilbert acted as Sergeant-at-Arms.
The induction of our two new members was done by Gilbert who is also their sponsor. We welcome two amazing individuals, Thierry and John who both previously gave us fascinating insights into their business. See:
– “John van de Water talked to Rotary”, https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/09/22/john-van-de-water-talked-to-rotary/
– 14 December 2021 Rotary dinner in Schindlers, with Thierry as a speaker: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/12/27/14-december-2021-rotary-dinner-in-schindlers/

Speaker: Victor Montalva Salaverry

Topic: Introduction to Mining Industry and Community Relations in a Mining Town
Our Rotary member Victor gave us a speech about Mining Industry and the Community Relation in Peru, his home country. Victor is the director for Minera Tungsteno (tungsten mine) and director/co-owner of Agropex (copper/ gold mining) . He gave an introduction of his experience in gold, copper and tungsten mining and trading, and then he talked about the challenges and the positive significances of a good Community Relation in the mining towns, which are mostly located in the remote, economically undeveloped areas of Peru.

14 December 2021 Rotary dinner in Schindlers

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Schindlers Tankstelle –  Sanlitun

For the 14 December 2021 Rotary dinner in Schindlers we had Thierry Raymaekers as a speaker on the Winter Olympics. See the dishes I chose. Pretty nice! Gilbert presided the meeting and acted as Sergeant-at-Arms.

The New Year Party is planned for 11 January 2022 in Kempinski 7:00 pm, with a buffet, non-stop drinks and live music.
Price RMB 350, children half price. Guests and friends are welcome.

Speaker: Thierry Raymaekers

Topic:  Background on “ Winter Gold “ documentary ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
With less than 60 days till the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, lots of companies and people are involved around the clock with preparations. One of the companies, Thierry works with is in post-production phase of a 6 series documentary that will be aired on Jan 14 on CCTV.
In his presentation he gave a behind-the-scene look on how this co-production came to existence, and challenges they have been facing due to COVID-19 restrictions and 2022 Winter Olympics operational protocols. he introduced the athletes that are featured in the video.

Thierry is an astute executive with 20+ years of boots-on-the ground China experience. He is founder and principal of a Beijing based media consulting company in providing strategy and M&A services to clients that are in need of assistance when entering China’s media scene and driving profitability.
Known as a thought leader on China’s media & entertainment industry he is a public speaker at various events and conferences, and contributor to many articles.

7 December 2021 Rotary Beijing AGM

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Rotary Club of Beijing

On 7 December 2021 Rotary Beijing AGM in Kempinski Hotel for the Election of the 2022-23 Board and Officers.

With 13 members representing 29 members, the Beijing club Rotarians voted the following board members and club officers.

  • President: PE Benoit
  • IPP: P Didier
  • PE – Still to be filled
  • Treasurer – Rtn Kevin
  • Secretary – Rtn René
  • Vice-President – Rtn Jose
  • Membership – Still to be filled
  • Events Chair – Rtn Vivian
  • Foundation – Rtn Mike K.
  • Service – Rtn Ralf
  • Youth / International –Rtn Gilbert

It is noted that PE and the membership chair for 2022-23 are still vacant and members are encouraged to volunteer.

Membership and events

At the meeting, the membership chair Hans reported on the changes and challenges of membership for the past six months. With many expatriate members moving out of China, it is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain members. It is paramount that our members bring in their friends and colleagues to continually renew our membership.

Event Chair Vivian reported on the previously held and soon-to-take-place events, presenting the diversity of speakers and topics. The members recognized and appreciated Rtn. Vivian’s effort and good work on organizing interesting and lively meetings and events.

New Project Announcement

The board has in the last month agreed for members to donate to Yuhua Home for the Mentally Challenged. Yuhua Home has a history of 20 years, nursing children and young adults with mental disability. With the funding dwindling since the start of the pandemic, Yuhua Home, like many other such institutions, faced the same dilemma of staying open and providing food and shelter for those in need. The donation will go toward buying the food during the winter months.