Royal Asiatic Society Celebrates 10 Years in Beijing This November

Ten years is a major milestone for China expats. It’s a badge of honor, a sign that one knows the lay of the land. If there’s one group that’s more than earned this badge of honor, it’s the Royal Asiatic Society, Beijing, which is nearing its 10th anniversary on Nov 11.

Since its founding, RASBJ has brought all aspects of China's past and present to its members and guests eager to learn more about the country. Even through the thick of Covid, the organization was still able to hold meetings, albeit online, to complete its mission.

We recently spoke to RASBJ president Alan Babington-Smith to learn more about RASBJ, its history, their upcoming 10th anniversary gala and what's in store for the organization moving forward.

Ten years must mean a lot of good memories to look back on. How has RASBJ changed since its founding?
Reaching this ten-year milestone has led us to reflect on RASBJ's decade of innovation and change, which began with a primary aim of serving as a bridge for cultural understanding. Now that we’ve achieved a strong track record of top-quality events for our vibrant membership, RASBJ can start its second decade with an additional focus on giving back to the wider community.

Recognizing that Beijing hosted a critical mass of residents with an international mindset, I explored RASBJ’s viability. In early 2013 we organized a professionally-led brainstorming exercise with several dozen representatives from Beijing’s academic, diplomatic, cultural heritage, corporate, art, think tank, non-profit and media worlds.

This exercise helped define RASBJ's objectives, requirements and challenges – which in turn helped RASBJ to anticipate some key decisions that lay ahead. The past decade’s growth has exceeded expectations. Since 2013. we have held more than 280 events, both in-person and online, which deal with topics that resonate in both the East and West. Moreover, the past three years – much of the time spent under Beijing's zero-Covid restrictions – proved that our camaraderie and sense of community could be a much-needed haven for internationally minded people of all nationalities.

We went online early into the pandemic, and even though large gatherings were banned, going online brought a silver lining: many top-class Sinologists and popular authors were also stuck at home for large chunks of this period. RASBJ recruited them to speak to its members and introduced many to Zoom for the first time.

Our online series since 2020 has featured well-known personalities such as Rana Mitter, Jing Tsu, Paul French, Gish Jen, and the late Ezra Vogel. Historian Frances Wood recently captivated her online audience with a memorable talk about Chen Yuan and Ling Shuhua titled "Love, Libel, Literature, Loss: The Tribulations of a Distinguished Intellectual Family in 20th Century China."

We also established connections with like-minded entities and shared with them access to RASBJ events. We launched a YouTube channel, and began posting on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and especially WeChat, the multi-faceted social media platform used extensively in China.    

In 2022, RASBJ held 39 events and had tripled its 2019 membership. Starting in our 10th year, RASBJ is launching our program to benefit good causes in the wider community. We will continue to introduce members to discussions featuring intellectually vibrant personalities, and to in-person gatherings with like-minded people. This year, however, we have begun donating funds to assist good causes in the wider community.

And now to celebrate these achievements through thick and thin, there’s the gala. What more can you tell us about the event and what’s in store?
RASMataazz! is both a celebration and a fundraiser. With “Dine, Dance & Donate” as our theme, the gathering will be lively, informal, and affordable; the dress code is “festive chic, razzle-dazzle”.  The idea is for people to interact with each other, and be themselves without worrying about how they look.

The buffet is provided by Turkish Feast, the wine by CHEERS, and the venue is the Indoor Garden Room of Jingshangyuan, setting a casual, lively mood.  Three hours of live music will be performed by the Ah-Q Jazz Arkestra, a top Beijing jazz band.  And to kick off the evening, salsa lessons (beginners welcome!) will be held by Julio, who after dinner will give us a brief Cuban salsa demonstration.

The silent auction at RASMatazz will be different.  Although party-goers will be offered an array of items – and artifacts – to bid on, we’re also offering unique “experiences” and encounters that, under normal circumstances, money just cannot buy.  Bidders will vie to enjoy dining and in-person discussion with big-name authors, for example, or exclusive one-on-one seminars with figures from the business, legal or art worlds.

Finally, since our party happens to fall on “Singles Day”, we invite 11 members to each bring a non-member "Plus One” at a discounted price.  The “Plus One” ticket can be purchased at the preferential members' price of RMB 500 instead of the standard non-members price of RMB 700.

We understand there’s also going to be a fundraiser at the event. How will it work and which charity are you working with for the occasion?
RASBJ is donating to good causes not only through silent auction proceeds, but also through ticketing revenue. RMB 100 from each ticket sold is going to good causes. Moreover, all silent auction proceeds will also be donated. The silent auction has attracted more than 20 top-quality donors, some of them donating multiple offerings. Everything from works of art and antique maps to fine wine and vineyard stays are on offer.  In addition, our focus on unique experiences and one-on-one encounters has drawn dozens of appealing and unusual offerings.

You can bid for a private early-morning birding excursion for you and your family, led by Beijing’s “rock star” ornithologist Terry Townshend. Or an in-person conversation over lunch with Joerg Wuttke about China’s past and future, or a painting session with experimental artist Niamh Cunningham.

Book lovers will have a chance to bid for “a morning in London with author Paul French (of Midnight in Peking fame) which includes a private tour of the exclusive London Library which has many valuable first editions, accessible by members and their special guests only. Another writer, Jim Zimmerman, has offered two lucky bidders a “dinner with the author” plus an autographed book of his hot debut book Peking Express.

RASBJ’s ability to generate donations underwent a “soft launch” this year, allowing us to give three modest donations during the party to recipients benefiting cultural heritage protection, the natural world, and arts and society.  These are the Shanshui NGO, based out of Peking University, which promotes sustainable environment and biodiversity; the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center represented by Hu Xinyu, a great friend of RASBJ; and the British Council which will utilize RASBJ’s donation to help support a literary endeavor.  

So, back to RASBJ the organization. For the uninitiated, what is RAS and what does the group do? And what events do you have coming up besides the gala?
RASBJ organizes events focused on culture and history, and its council and organizers are unpaid volunteers. Income from events and subscription fees cover mandatory costs and occasional paid technical assistance – and, most importantly, its growing surplus allows us now to start making donations to good causes.

RASBJ is inspired by the historical legacy of the Royal Asiatic Society in London – which celebrated its Bicentennial this year -- and is an independent branch. RASBJ enjoys friendly ties and occasional events collaboration with branches in other cities; in early 2020 RASBJ became the first branch to invite members of other branches to enjoy its online events.

Our members and friends comprise a community with a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, occupations and degrees of China experience – basically, we’re like-minded people united in our curiosity about China and Asia, our enjoyment in meeting each other socially, and our belief in the need for more cultural understanding.  Despite the “R” in RASBJ (Royal Asiatic Society Beijing), our members are not restricted to “royals” nor “elites” but rather represent a wide-ranging community from many nationalities, professions, and age groups. 

We offer talks and walks exploring the diversity of China’s culture – past and present -- both in-person and online. We currently organize, on average, over 30 events a year, and members enjoy on-demand access to over 120 recordings on the RASBJ YouTube channel.  Members say they enjoy the high-level and unique nature – and perhaps the quirkiness – of these events. One of the talks explained what Qing rulers learned about governance from their celebrity chefs; in another, art historian Alfreda Murck, a specialist in Song paintings, explained her ”New Take on Fakes” in the art world. In our social gatherings, you always meet someone you might not otherwise encounter.

Our events, and the prominent authors and commentators who feature in them, are the backbone of RASBJ’s activities. What's more, they have created synergies with our new endeavor to contribute to good causes. For example, speaker Jim Zimmerman helped generate one of RASBJ’s first donations by holding an impromptu auction of a Peking Express-related artifact at one of his talks. He’s also donated to the 11/11 silent auction several antique maps, including a 1779 Santini map of China.

In addition to Nov. 11, RASBJ’s upcoming events include author Nick Hordern introducing online his new book, Shanghai Demimondaine: From Sex Worker to Society Matron, about Australian Lorraine Murray. She had been a high-class Shanghai prostitute who reinvented herself after moving to Australia and the UK during WWII. She was the real-life character upon whom Emily Hahn’s protagonist in the fictionalized novel Miss Jill was based. At one point, Murray even worked in the library of the RAS in London. Later in November, RASBJ will partner with the Yale Club Beijing on a hybrid event featuring Jennifer Altenhenger and Denise Ho discussing “Material Contradictions in Mao’s China”.

In December, advertising guru Charles Kan will explain how advertising in China reflects or impacts society, William Lindesay OBE will recount his recent adventures on the trail of RAS personality Aurel Stein, and Prof. Katherine Morton will talk in-person about climate change. Then to help kick off 2024, retired general and former US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, who is lecturing at the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua will discuss relations between great powers in the 21st century. For more details, go to: rasbj.glueup.cn/org/rasbeijing/about.

How did you yourself first get involved with RAS and RASBJ?
By a lucky bit of serendipity. One wintry evening, author Paul French was in the Chinese capital promoting Midnight in Peking. He was a leading figure in RAS Shanghai -- he helped bring it back to life after a closure of 50 years, and thought it would be fun to set up the Royal Asiatic Society Beijing and suggested to my wife Melinda Liu that I should do it "because he's the most British person I know."  After 15 years in China, I was gradually retiring from my business in leadership coaching and management development, and was lucky to find an occupation that came close to satisfying my insatiable curiosity about China and gave me the opportunity and excuse to do what I like most – bring people together.  

Can non-members attend the gala and perhaps sign up during the event?
Absolutely. We welcome nonmembers to almost all our events and are always glad to make new friends and add new members. RASBJ membership at RMB 400 a year for Beijing residents is remarkable value!

The Royal Asiatic Society, Beijing's RASmatazz! will take place on the evening of Saturday, Nov 11, from 6pm onwards at the Garden Room in JinShang Yuan. Tickets are RMB 500 for RASBJ members and RMB 700 for non-members, and can be purchased by scanning the QR code in the poster.

READ: Capital Histories: How Beijing Became China's Capital

Images courtesy of RASBJ, lead image designed by Hava Ravat