History of the Club
Rotary in China and our own Rotary Club of Beijing both have a long history and I try to dig up as much. All stories and details are most welcome!
Rtn. Gilbert
The Rotary Beijing Bell
We might call our bell the real symbol of our Club.
The Rotary Club of Beijing calls its meetings to order with an old brass bell that was donated to the original Beijing club in 1925 by Hong Kong Rotarian Stanley F. Howard.
The bell disappeared after the establishment of Communist Government in 1949 and the club’s subsequent closure. Many years later, Hong Kong Rotarian Bob Wilson made a serendipitous discovery in a Hong Kong antique shop in 1992 when he noticed the store’s doorstop was an old brass bell.
Bob Wilson looked closer and recognised the design of the Rotary wheel on its surface and the engraving: “Donated by Stanley F. Howard, 20 August 1925. Rotary Club of Peking.” Without hesitation, Rtn Wilson immediately bought this piece of history, which had already survived most of a very turbulent century.
In June 1998 he donated it to the Beijing Rotary Fellowship Group in honor of its 100th meeting.
