Rotary

More about Rotary Club of Beijing 102 years

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Our tables

Here more about Rotary Club of Beijing 102 years Gala.
As Rotating chairman of the UWEE Group I helped to book four tables for our special guests, friends and UWEE staff. We warmly welcomed the ambassadors of: Argentina, Bahamas, Denmark, Philippines, Luxembourg, and Mauritius. We also welcomed the special envoys of Belgium, Timor-Leste, Italy, and Russia among our other special guests.

See some pictures of our four tables, lively conversations!

Our guests

See here some pictures of some of our guests. We are grateful for their presence and active participation.

They all seemed to have a great time!
See here the full video of the Gala.

Silent auction and raffle

Twenty paintings were donated by UWEE Group for the silent auction, part of the collection of children paintings, part shown yearly in the Paris Louvre museum, see the art website of UWEE. UWEE® International Art Exhibition at The Louvre is initiated by UWEE Group in conjunction with governments and international organizations of many countries, and supported by many UN agencies. After six sessions, it has gathered more than 20,000 works from more than 80 countries, and it has become an art exchange platform across civilizations.

A symbolic check of the paintings proceeds was made and picture taken with the Club’s President, UWEE CEO, and delegates from the Hebei Children’s Hospital.
See also some of the items I donated for the silent auction and the raffle.

Rotary Club of Beijing 102 years

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Gala Ball

The Rotary Club of Beijing 102 years Gala on 7 March 2026 in the Kempinski Hotel was again a success, Nearly 200 guests had a great night of entertainment, food, and fellowship to celebrate 102 years of the Club.
The generous donations from the guests, through raffle tickets and silent auction delivered around RMB 120,000 to the Hebei Children’s Hospital. They are our partner for two of our projects, scoliosis and hypospadias.

autism
Beijing Huiling
hypospadias
LiXioaqing
MCFFutureThinkers
scoliosis

See short introductions of some of the projects we support.

Welcome to all guests

During the reception in ballroom foyer guests were registered and offered champagne. UWEE had its own registration for its 40 guests.
In the first part of the evening we had as speakers: Rob, President of the Rotary Club of Beijing, introducing our Hypospadias and Scoliosis Partners, Dr. Xinping Zhang, Hebei Children’s Director and Party Secretary and Ms. Xiaowei Cui, Director. IPP Didier also took the stage. And also banner exchange with the Rotary Club of Beijing Dynasty and a surprise birthday boy congratulated by our MC David and the Club President.

registration_proceedings

UWEE reception
with Jane
Philippines ambassador
the foodies
Rob
Didier
Gilbert
Beijing Dynasty
Rob & birthday boy
David & birthday boy
group picture

A film showed the Rotarians visiting the Hebei Children’s Hospital on 1 March 2026.
Of course we had a group picture of the Rotarians!

Entertainment and food

Provided by UWEE Group:

  • Italian opera by Mr. Zhan Ying, Baritone, Dr of Musicology, “La donna è mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto
  • Mongolian Folk Dance by Dongzhimenwai ANGRAN Dance Group (twelve senior ladies), “Blessings of the Grassland”
  • Chinese classical instruments orchestra by  “Zi Yan Folk Ensemble” (ten musicians), “The whip urges the horse to hurry and transport grain”

Other entertainment:

  • Voca-Liszt Vocal Ensemble (15 performers)
  • SWG Ensemble – a high energy live band led by vocalist Ting Luo, with guitarist Xin Xiang, award winning bassist Dima Tang and drummer and composer Johanthan Chang
  • Dancing to DJ Music
Screenshot

The Kempinski served a full course dinner, much appreciated.
Yes we had fun, see the video: Rotary Gala Dancing
In a next post, more pictures!

Beijing Rotary Gala 15 March 2025

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Great attendance

Beijing Rotary Gala 15 March 2025: the Kempinski ballroom hosted over 200 guests who were served a delicious dinner with champagne, wines and more. It was also to celebrate the 101 anniversary of the Rotary Club of Beijing.
Ambassadors of Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Philippines attended along with officials of embassies –  Slovakia, Colombia,. Honduras, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Kenia and more. And besides our Chinese guests, foreign participants from many countries. Rotarians from other clubs joined the members of the Beijing Club.

The Gala is organized to promote the projects of our Rotary Club. See a short overview. Proceeds were collected by the Chinese Hebei Hospital, our partner for the hypospadias project, see details here.

UWEE was a major sponsor and also contributed ten children’s paintings for the silent auction, paintings from the annual exhibition in the Louvre, Paris. See a short introduction of the UWEE Group. The group also contributed to the entertainment.
UWEE issued a short article about the event, see here the Chinese version with a Google translation: 250315 UWEEreport.

Pictures shown are a selection of the many pictures taken during the event, all downsized.

Highlights of the program

  • Reception in Ballroom Foyer started at 6pm; guests were welcomed and some were interviewed by UWEE; the ballroom doors opened at 6:45pm,
  • Rtn Daniel acted as the MC.
  • Speaker: Rene Schmitt, President of Rotary Club of Beijing introduces Hypospadias Partners, President Cao of Hebei Charitable and Deputy Director Cui of Hebei Hospital; film showing the Rotarians Visit to Hebei Hospital on March 1.
  • Performance by Alina, Piano Recital followed by Alina and twin boys, 6 hands piano (UWEE).. The twin boys are the sons of Mr. Yan Fei.
  • Performance – Xinjiang Dance Show (UWEE) – Dongzhimenwai Angran Dance Group (12 ladies aged 65 to 74) – group picture with embassy guests.
  • Group picture of Rotary Members
  • Brian and Kevin playing our favorite tunes.
  • Greg Lutrell and Band – Dancing opened with performance of Cuban dancers (UWEE).

See a small video clip “Rotary Club of Beijing Gala 15 March 2025”

UWEE tables

UWEE Group took four tables, bringing together ambassadors, officials and Chinese friends..

Gilbert as Rotating Chairman of the UWEE Group was the host of the ambassadors table, together with Mr. Yan Fei, President of the Group. The ambassadors of Belgium, Philippines, Luxembourg and Switzerland all enjoyed the evening.

Rotary Club of Beijing news

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

New banners

Rotary Club of Beijing news: we have two updated banners, presented during our meeting of 14 January.

Our largest expense now is for the charitable project Hypospadtias Operations. Started in 2016, so far we provided the cost for 149 operations at an approximate cost of RMB 1.4 million. We continue to support 2 operations a month.
Read about the project in this earlier post.

Folha de São Paulo

Many thanks to our Brazilian journalist friend Nelson for the interview he did with our RI President Elect during his visit to Beijing.
He was so kind to show the article dated 17 January 2025:

 

See the original here on the website of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.

Rotary International President Elect

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

A prestigious visit

Rotary International President Elect 2025-26 Mário César Martins de Camargo visited the Rotary Club of Beijing on 7 January 2025, part of his tour worldwide to visit clubs.
He also visited other Rotary clubs in Beijing and Shanghai.
As a club member I had the privilege to meet many of the RI presidents. The visit of Mário was special for me as he is from the State of São Paulo and I resided in Brazil many years, including in the city of São Paulo.
I introduced to him my friend Nelson who is the journalist of the well-know Folha de São Paulo. Nelson later interviewed him.
We had a big turnout and the dinner in Kempinski Hotel was a success. And the food was great!

Pictures by Rtn Tom and Rtn Gilbert
This post is my personal view, not an official report of our club.

The program

An overview of the evening, as related by Mário himself and slightly edited by myself
Source: Mário on Facebook.

On 7 January 2025, Rotary International President Elect 2025-26 MARIO CÉSAR MARTINS DE CAMARGO, in Beijing, China, participated in moments of exchanging experiences and fellowship, with great engagement with the local Rotary community. It was moments to reinforce the values of solidarity, leadership and teamwork, pillars of Rotary, in an international context. It was a unique opportunity to exchange experiences, strengthen bonds among Rotary Clubs in the region, and promote global initiatives that reflect Rotary’s commitment to making a difference in the world.

RIPE 2025-26 Mario –  Great Moments at Rotary Club of Beijing

We highlight special moments from the President-Elect’s visit to the Rotary Club of Beijing.
▪︎ Registration of the attendees at the occasion. Present: members of the Rotary Clubs of Beijing, Beijing Riviera, Shenyang, Rotary China delegates among others and guests.
▪︎ Presence of journalists of Folha de São Paulo (Brazil), Pakistan and Germany
▪︎ Admission of new members: Realized by RIPE Mario, strengthening the associative framework of the club. Induction of our new member Joel.
▪︎ Presentation by our club directors of the activities of the club.
▪︎ Speech by Mário after the introduction by Rtn Tom and thanks by Rtn Didier who presided the dinner
▪︎ Special gift: Mario received a traditional Chinese scroll with calligraphy in Chinese characters, symbolizing friendship and gratitude, from Rtn Tom.
▪︎ Historical recognition: Rotary International Certificate in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Beijing.
▪︎ President-Elect with Katrina Sam, Associate Rotarian with the Rotary Club of South Barbados in the Caribbean. Former president of her home club and currently an expatriate in Beijing on an international mission for a multinational development bank, Katrina has been instrumental in supporting the disclosures of the President-Elect’s actions in Beijing. She cooperates with sending materials and responds promptly to requests. Katrina participates as a visiting Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Beijing, proudly representing District 7030 in the Caribbean

This visit reflects the spirit of unity and cultural exchange that Rotary promotes globally.

Some background

See the background of Mário here:

Rtn Tom explains the sophisticated design of the scroll he donated:

Indeed a state of the art AI à la Tom…