Foreign Correspondents' Club of China » Events

Holding Up Half The Sky: The Working Mum In China

FCCC Webmaster — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:57:27 +0000

There are an estimated 320 million working mothers in China, more than the entire population of the United States. They are the driving force of the Chinese economy and the wheels of industry. They form the bedrock of new markets, pillars of growth and drive domestic consumption. The sheer numbers drive many retailers to rush in to meet their needs and wants, believing that dangling goods in front of the consumer will make them desire and ultimately buy.

Kunal Sinha, Executive Director of Discovery, Ogilvy & Mather’s consumer insight and trends unit, will share findings from a new research report on spending patterns of mothers in china’s tier 1 and 2 cities. He will reveal why this segment of society deserves even greater attention from retailers, businesses and organizations. He will show why the stereotypical sketch of Chinese mum – the superwoman who perfectly balances a career while raising a superachiever child – may be a drastic oversimplification of the rapidly evolving diversity in Chinese mothers’ lifestyles, aspirations and ambitions for themselves and their children.

DATE: Thursday, April 8th 2010
TIME: 11:00-12:30

VENUE: Singapore Embassy
No. 1 Xiu Shui Bei Jie (map)
Jian Guo Men Wai, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100600
Phone: 6532 1115

ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members
REGISTRATION: email fcccadmin@gmail.com so we know numbers and for security clearance

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Kunal Sinha has worked as a strategist and researcher for 21 years, mostly with companies in the WPP group, in India and China. He is a prolific author, with papers published in academic journals, business and trade media, and three books. The first two are about travel destinations in South Asia. The third, ‘China’s Creative Imperative’, is an award-winning volume on China’s potential in creativity.

Happy Hour

manager — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 07:49:27 +0000

It’s hard to believe that April is already here. Now we’re just waiting for summer to arrive! But the one thing you don’t have to wait for, is our monthly Happy Hour, this month the 2nd Friday.

DATE: Friday, April 9
TIME: 6-10pm
VENUE: The Bookworm www.beijingbookworm.com

ENTRANCE: Free. Non-members very welcome as always
DRINKS DISCOUNT: to FCCC members wielding a valid FCCC membership card

Behind The Bamboo Curtain: Five Years In North Korea

manager — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:16:04 +0000

Most visitors and journalists can only scratch the surface of what life is like in North Korea. Karin Janz, country director (North Korea) for the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, will share what she has gleaned from five years of work in the secretive country, where she interacted with local families and visited their homes.

Welthungerhilfe is the largest of six European NGOs based in North Korea. Welthungerhilfe helps people to help themselves through its support of maize seed processing, provision of clean drinking water and implementation of sustainable agro-forestry systems. The NGO has helped plant more than 100,000 fruit trees in North Korea, diversifying the diet of many people. It has also sent hundreds of North Koreans for training in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, China and New Zealand.

DATE: April 20, 2010
TIME: 11:00-12:30am
VENUE:
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
17, Dongzhimenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100600
德意志联邦共和国驻华大使馆 – 北京市朝阳区东直门外大街17号
Tel: 8532 9000 (map)

ENTRANCE: free to FCCC members, 50 rmb on the door to non-members
REGISTRATION: email fcccadmin@gmail.com so we know numbers and for security clearance

ABOUT THE SPAEKER:
From 2005 to 2010, Dr Karin Janz was country director in North Korea for the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, overseeing a team of 10 international staff members and 35 Korean specialists and translators in its Pyongyang office.
Dr Janz was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1959. She studied land management and agriculture. In 1985, she spent several months in a village on Hebei’s border, where she transplanted rice, fed chicken and ducks and discussed ecological farming with farmers. From 1990 to 1995, she worked for the German Technical Cooperation GTZ to improve farmers’ living conditions in Hebei.

From 1995 to 2000, she again spent months in rural China to research her PhD on traditional knowledge of farming, while advising on rural projects all over China and Asia. For another five years, she was project manager on an afforestation project in Shanxi Province.
After 25 interesting years in East Asia, she is now on her way home to Germany.

The Culture Of Wealth- UCCA Breaking News Series

manager — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:34:04 +0000

What does it mean to be wealthy in China? How do the wealthy view society, and how are they perceived? Are they changing Chinese culture for better and worse? Gady Epstein – the Beijing Bureau Chief of Forbes, and Huang Hung, the chief editor of iLook will share with UCCA’s audience their views on the culture of wealth in China.

This event is part of an ongoing series of talks by journalists about culture, organised by UCCA and FCCC.

DATE: April 24 (Saturday)
TIME: 11:00- 12:30
VENUE:
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 798 Art District, JiuXianQiaoLu No.4, ChaoYang District, Beijing, 100015
北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路4号，798艺术区，尤伦斯当代艺术中心 100015

If you are interested in speaking on a future panel in this series, please contact Lucy Hornby at: lucy.hornby@thomsonreuters.com.

The Hard Road: Seeking Justice For The Victims Of Lung Disease In China

manager — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:39:18 +0000

For Members only.

SPEAKER: Geoffrey Crothall, Director of Communications, China Labor Bulletin

Launch of research report & talk by China Labor Bulletin
There are probably more than one million workers in China today suffering from pneumoconiosis, the deadly lung disease that is by far the most widespread occupational disease in the country, with nearly 10,000 new cases officially diagnosed each year. Yet, only a handful of those workers will get anything like the work-related injury compensation they are entitled to under the law. Most will only get small lump sum payment that can only cover medical costs for a few years, many will get nothing at all.

A new research report, published by China Labour Bulletin, investigates why it is so difficult for victims of pneumoconiosis to get compensation, and outlines a series of measures to improve work safety and remove the obstacles to redress created by current laws and legal procedures, employers who refuse to pay, and government officials and judges who are more concerned with the letter of the law than the plight of dying workers.

The report uses CLB’s own case studies including jewellery workers, coal miners and construction workers to illuminate the numerous obstacles to redress for victims of pneumoconiosis and show that, through determined collective action, there is a way through the log jam.

DATE: Monday, April 26
TIME: 11:00-12:30am
VENUE: Australian embassy 澳大利亚驻华大使馆
21 Dongzhimenwai Dajie,
Sanlitun (next to Canadian embassy, opposite A.C. Embassy Hotel)
北京市朝阳区三里屯东直门外大街21号
(加拿大大使馆的旁边，澳加饭店的对面)
Tel: 5140 4111, website

REGISTRATION: rsvp to fcccadmin@gmail.com, for members only

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Geoffrey Crothall is the Director of Communications at China Labor Bulletin. He has been writing about China for more than two decades, and was the South China Morning Post correspondent in Beijing from 1991 to 1996.

China Labour Bulletin (CLB) is a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organization that defends and promotes workers’ rights in China. It was set up in 1994 by prominent labor rights activist Han Dongfang. It supports the development of democratic trade unions, respect for and enforcement of China’s labor laws, and the full participation of workers in civil society. It provides legal aid to workers and seeks to promote collective bargaining as an effective means of resolving labor disputes. CLB’s reports and analysis of labour rights issues in China are available at www.clb.org.hk.