Rotary Club of Beijing

This is a short summary, for the full Bulletin in PDF, click the following link:
090825_bulletin.pdf

Four way test was done by IPP Kevin by Chinese and English

Sergeant-at-Arms Rtn. Charles welcomed visiting Rotarians:
- Rtn. DR. Saga, RC Jade Spring (Doctor) Taipei
- Rtn. Jacob Zilber, RC India Land, SC USA
- Rtn. Larissa Paschyn, RC Kyiv Multinational
- Rtn. Mayank Kvmmar, RC Bombay Mumbai, India
- Rtn. Parker Ma, RC Taipei Diamond
- Rtn. Ham Malek, RC Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
- Rtn. Steve Ting, RC Cupertino, CA USA
And visiting guests:
- Mr. Raymond Loptez, guest of Rtn. Chris
- Mr. Bernd Eitel, guest of Rtn. Stefan
- Mr. Nick Cham, guest of Rtn. Gilbert
- Mr. Minh Kong, guest of Rtn. Rita
- Mr. Yash Lynch, guest of Rtn. Rita

Banners were exchanged with the following Rotary Clubs:
- RC Massachusetts, Town of Wenham USA

Reports & Announcements
• The Return of Rita Yang
The day was especially happy due to the return of Rita Yang, who had been hospitalized and subsequently recovering from a complex spinal operation. Rita explained that many years ago she was involved in a serious auto accident which left her with chronic headaches, back pain and insomnia. 5 weeks ago after suffering from extreme fatigue and dizziness she was told she needed a complex spinal operation on her neck to shave off a number of bone spurs which were putting pressure on her nerves and impeding blood flow to the brain. She was given two options, a complex western operation which would have required going in through the front of the neck, or a hybrid western/Traditional Chinese Medicine arthroscopic operation. She ended up going with the hybrid approach and is doing wonderfully. She is able for the first time in 30 years get 8 hours of sleep, is without daily pain and with the help of a neck brace and daily physical therapy regime is well on the way to recovery. Rita brought two guests who she met at the clinic where she is being treated and would be happy to discuss her experience with any Rotarian with any questions.
• Visit to Gubeikou
On September 27 Stefan is organizing one of the two yearly visits to the Gubeikou Village Project, which we are involved with in partnership with the Rotary Club of Morgan City, Louisiana, USA. Many of you have met Jim Furman form RC Morgan City during his many visits to Beijing, he will also be on the trip. The project, started in 2005, assists students in need of books, school materials and tuition.
15 of our students are attending college, including a young man who is studying medicine at Beijing University and a young woman who is studying social work and hoping to help others the way that we have helped her.
The project is supporting families in villages around Gubeikou, some 130 km northeast of Beijing near the Simatai section of the Great Wall. It benefits mostly kids from poor or broken homes who have location or financial difficulties that hinder their education.
The project is operated in partnership with Gubeikou Deputy Mayor Shan who has helped the project select students in need. We also provide funds for textbooks, including English dictionaries. It is our wish to grow this project to increase the number of students included in the program as well as later to extend it to other Chinese communities with similar needs.

• Thank you to Stefan
John publicly acknowledged Stefan’s role in helping us with the Gift of Life Bus project. Stefan saved us 300,000 RMB on the bus purchase.

• Gilbert appoints Ruby to be the Christmas Bazaar Chair
Gilbert announced that Ruby has graciously agreed to chair the effort. Ruby indicated she will be changing the venue to the NE Marriott and will be soliciting used books, jewelry, ladies accessories and other thins of value for a “garage sale” type of event in addition to finding vendors. Those interested in assisting or with ideas should contact Ruby.

• Rotary Fellowship
Rtn. Ruby put in another word for the upcoming BBQ fellowship event on Saturday August 29th at the Swiss Hotel. It promises to be a family friendly brunch which will include use of the SPLASH, their water park, perfect for kids on a hot Beijing weekend, tennis and squash courts, all for the very friendly price of 188 RMB, with kids half off or free depending on their age. Members wishing to participant please inform Ruby or CA Nancy.

• Midori Concert
David is asking that those attending the Midori Goto’s violin concert at the Beijing Concert Hall on Thursday, October 16th at 7:30pm please bring their ticket money with them as he has already fronted for the tickets. Again thanks David for organizing this impressive event.

• Happy Birthday Christian Bargmann
The club also sang a rousing if slightly tuneless version of happy birthday to Christian Bargmann who refused to divulge his age but was otherwise quite jovial.