Recent Events

In addition to hosting frequent speaker events that give members access to experts in academia, business, NGOs and government, the FCCC organizes social gatherings throughout the year.

The FCCC holds periodic mixers, in which members have mingled with senior diplomats from the Deputy Chiefs of Mission (DCMs) Club, and with Chinese journalists.

Usually in September, the club hosts a family-friendly barbeque in an open-air setting. This year, on Sept. 16, the FCCC returned to a unique and extremely popular venue called The Orchard, away from the stresses of urban Beijing. Surrounded by traditional Chinese architecture features, more than 140 attendees enjoyed home-grown organic food, an idyllic lake and the 80-tree apple orchard after which the restaurant is named.
For the amusement of kids, a dynamic "Mad Science" performance revealed the magic of cardboard airplanes and multi-colored "slime" (judging by squeals and laughter from the audience, it was a huge hit). Adults re-connected with colleagues and, as Beijing's summer heat began to cool, geared up for the busy autumn days ahead.

The social highpoint of the year is, traditionally, the FCCC Christmas Party. On December 3rd, 2005, more than 180 club members and their friends -- including more than a dozen Chinese VIP's -- gathered at The Jintai Art Museum, inside Chaoyang Park, for the club's "Party in the Park". The festivities included a sumptuous Christmas feast, imported wine, valuable door prizes and dancing into the wee hours. All took place under the gaze of the museum's masterpiece: a larger-than-life scupture of Deng Xiaoping. The evening included the ever-popular FCCC home movie -- a video with a humorous and highly cheeky spin on some of the year's news events in China.

For the winter of 2006-7, the FCCC decided to depart from tradition and hold two major social events. The first was a Dec. 9 Christmas cocktails for members and potential members from the media, diplomatic, academic and corporate sectors. More than 200 attended the event in Gallery Continua, one of the hottest galleries in the reknowned 798 art district. The second event was a Feb. 10, 2007 Spring Festival bash at Jia 21 restaurant, which laid on an exquisite buffet of Southwest China cuisine. Brazilian DJ Alex Cantuaria played cool tunes and, despite the fact that the six-party talks (aimed at defusing the North Korean nuclear crisis) were in full swing, more than 150 people managed to pull themselves away from the news to pack the restaurant. Included were two visiting diplomats from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. (Party organizers persuaded six-party negotiators to delay their much-anticipated breakthrough until after the party.) Many lucky participants were rewarded with a series of top-drawer door prizes, including free hotel stays in the most prestigious venues in town -- from the Ritz Carlton to the Red Capital Ranch, from China World to the St. Regis -- and the grand prize of two free Shanghai-London roundtrip air tickets on Virgin Atlantic.