Jan. 2023 - CNY Dinner Event
Seattle Shanghai Expats Society’s first dinner event was successfully held on Jan.25. Approximately thirty people joined to celebrate the Lunar New Year and enjoy authentic Shanghainese cuisine prepared by a private chef at our member Helen's restaurant in Issaquah - Amarone Ristorante and Bar in Issaquah. We appreciate friends' participation to make the evening a memorable event. Many people suggested that we should make it an annual event - an opportunity to create a new tradition here.
Nov. 2022 - Journalism Bias and How to Read News
Paul Roberts of the Seattle Times and Kenan Block, formerly with PBS spoke to the group about bias in the media. As many members of the Society are new to US they were many questions about the various bias of different news organizations. Our speakers presided over a lively discussion of this topic.
Oct. 2022 - Economic Outlook by Richard Martin
Richard Martin, the principal a IMA Asia and a frequent commentator CNBC, and economic and business analysis firm based in Singapore addressed our group by Zoom on October 24th. Richard addressed the bulk of his remarks about China and the outlook for the Chinese economy. He emphasised that China needed to dial back its zero-COVID policy to revive the economy as consumer spending and exports were flagging. He felt that zero-COVID would be gone by early 2023 at the latest.
Sep. 2022 - Shanghai Expats Society 2022 “Welcome Back” Session
On September 20, 2022 we gathered for our first “in-person” real meeting since the start of the pandemic. The participants talked about programs for the next 12 months. During the session a number of topics of interest were raised and the group made plans to invite speakers to explore these topics. Areas of interest included: Chinese food in the Seattle area, media bias, the economic outlook with an emphasis on China, Anti-Asian Hate in Society, Climate Change and how to understand the voting process in the U.S.
Event - July 2022
Summer is finally here in Seattle. We had a blast in the evening of July 8 to have the largest in person gathering since Covid. I hope the Seattle Shanghai Expats Society will continue to connect people and stay as a network that we share stories, seek resources and learn about different skills. Our regular monthly events will be back from September.
Event - May 2021
This May event, we have invited Stacy Milrany, a local artist, to talk to us about her creative project – Free Little Art Galleries. Last year Stacey created a small art space - similar to the free neighborhood library boxes we see around our city and asked her neighbors to contribute small works of art to the project. The response was overwhelmingly positive and Stacey has received wide media attention.
The idea of providing a place for people to contribute their artistic endeavors, many created during the days of pandemic lockdowns, has really flourished.Stacey reports that she now knows of over 200 “FLAG” galleries installed in more than 20 countries since the first one established in Queen Anne last year! !
We appreciate that Stacy came up with the idea, made it happen and how it has inspired the world as well as her next thoughts about the project.
Event - Sep.14, 2020
I invited David Williams (a naturalist and author) to speak at our September “Back to School” session. He led a virtual tour highlighting the creatures that live in downtown. David introduced us to lions, eagles, walruses and ducks that are engraved on the historical building of Seattle. Our eyes were opened to so many creatures that are watching us when we go about the city centre.
Here are my favourite pictures:
Walruses (a great story hidden here after 1946 earthquake)
Newspaper motif (entailing the media process)
A duck up on a building and some duck footprints several blocks away (any links between the two?)
Event - Jun.9, 2020
Our society partnered with Washington State China Relations Council (“WSCRC”) again and hosted a webinar “The Future of the Food and Beverage Industry: A Global Discussion”. Two members from our Society and former restaurant entrepreneurs in China, Bob Boyce (the founder of Blue Frog) and Sok Featherstone, together with Bob Donegal, the President of the Ivar’s restaurant chain formed the panel.
They shared their ideas about shape of the food and beverage industry post Covid-19.
Event - May.19, 2020
China is a couple of months ahead of the rest of the world dealing with the pandemic. While most of the states in the US are starting to re-open their economies this week, China is back operating at almost pre-ddmic levels, particularly its industrial manufacturing industry.
Leo Li (Partner and Head of AMI, Greater China at Oliver Wayman Consulting) and Eric Wang (Partner and Portfolio Manager at Shanghai Million Tons Capital Co., Ltd.) shared their insights with us about which industries and companies amy emerge as winners coming out of the pandemic.
Event - Mar.31, 2020
Dr. Xu Xiaomin, a Chinese doctor dispatched to Wuhan in the first wave of medical personnel sent to that city to combat Covid 19 spoke to our members today. Dr. Xu was assigned to Wuhan No. 4 Hospital for a period of two months. He shared some of his personal experiences of what it was like to be working at the heart of the outbreak, and also elaborated on some of his ideas on where governments should put their efforts to stem the virus.
The webinar event was co-sponsored with Washington State China Relations Council (“WSCRC”).
Event - Feb.12, 2020
Two events were organised back to back on this day. Both speakers were impressed by our member’s being so engaged and the many questions raised.
Event #1 - Walter Impert from Dorsey and Whitney, shared with us his deep knowledge about Estate Planning and Trust.
Event #2 - Eric Abrahamsen, Founder of Paper Republic, spoke about how he selects Chinese literature to translate for western readers.
Event - Dec.27, 2019
An unconventional gathering - a beer drinking party - was organised on Dec.27 to celebrate the holidays. We appreciate Curt Ferguson, President of Coca Cola China, for his support to our group by sponsoring the fun evening.
Event - Dec.11, 2019
Our society members were invited to China National Tourism Organization's promotion dinner on Dec.11 at Chihuly Garden. For many of us, who are relatively new to Seattle, it was a great chance to visit the iconic museum and dinner hall.
Event - October 8, 2019
Cameron Johnson, a Washington native who has lived in China since 1999 and a former Microsoft executive, spoke to us on October 8th. He reviewed the findings of Amcham Shanghai’s annual business survey which was released last month. The survey’s key findings were that American businesses in China are, in general, profitable and still optimistic about the future. Coca Cola and Nike, for example, are continuing to make big investments in China in the next five years.
Cameron also reported on his recent participation on Amcham Shanghai’s Doorknock to Washington where he met with members of Congress, the Administration as well as with think tanks. Cameron reported that he did not find any coherent strategy emanating from Washington D.C. on how to improve the U.S China relationship.
At the meeting, I brought up the concept of the “Thucydides Trap” – A rising power challenging the existing power. Click here for an article on this topic, shared by our member Matt Targett.
Event - September 10, 2019
George Liu, formal Chief Marketing Officer for Hong Kong Airline, made a presentation about current conflicts in Hong Kong. He outlined the cultural and psychological differences between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong natives and how their basic world views are different.
George’s presentation prompted a lively discussion among 30 members in attendance.
Event - June 6, 2019
We were very pleased to have Leo Li, Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to be our guest speaker this month. He was visiting Seattle from Shanghai to participate BCG’s global partner conference.
He shared with the group his view about the Outlook of the Chinese Economy. His speech mainly covered areas of growth, population and trade war.
It was certainly a memorable event - lots of questions and heated discussion on the topics that every member found relevant.
Venue: APCO Seattle Office.
Event - May 21, 2019
Tian Hui, the owner and founder of Studio 19 Architects, shared with the group her entrepreneurial stories. She outlined the challenges she has faced of developing her business in Seattle as a female business leader.
Cameron Johnson (Partner of Tidalwave Solutions), who was visiting Seattle from Shanghai, provided us with lots of first-hand information about the latest business environment in China.
We thank Hui and Cam for their insights.
Venue: John L. Scott Real Estate office provided by Luna Wang.
Event - March 12, 2019
Zoe Ryan, our member, shared with the group her ongoing documentary film project - World Symphony For Peace.
The World Symphony for Peace follows songwriter, composer and peace advocate Morris Hayes (Former keyboard musician of Prince) around the world on a quest to connect people through the universal language of music. The feature length documentary seeks to explore using music as a means to bring about peace. Filming began in Shanghai, China in the Spring of 2016 documenting Mr. Hayes on the first stop of his global journey. For more information, see https://worldsymphonyforpeace.org.
Event - Jan 17, 2019
Our first event in 2019 featured the well-known author and China expert Jim McGregor. Jim is a well-respected commentator on China-related matters. He has lived in China for over 30 years serving as the Wall Street Journal’s bureau chief in China and Taiwan, the former CEO of Dow Jones & Company as well as an author of several books. He currently serves as the Chairman of APCO in China.
His books include “One Billion Customers”.