“Early one evening we landed on Chinese soil in perhaps the most talked of city of modern days, Shanghai. A delegation of Chinese Rotarians, headed by their president Percy Chu, a Chinese banker, met us and whisked us away to a banquet awaiting at the Metropole, a hotel of the heavy magnificence of Western world hoteleries of the Victorian age. The Mayor of the city, also a Chinese, graced the occasion by his presence and also spoke […]”. [Paul P. Harris, Peregrinations, Volume II, (1935)]

Picture 1 George Treadwell (left), delegate from Shanghai at the Convention in Atlantic City [The Rotarian, August 1920]

When R.I. President Carl Wilhelm Stenhammar presents the charter document to the Rotary Club of Beijing and Shanghai on May 21th and 22th respecitively, their provisory status will be terminated and the re-admittance of China into the Rotarian community will be offical. A new chapter in the long and eventful history of Rotary in this country will be opened.

The history of Rotary in China began on October 1st, 1919 with the founding of the RC Shanghai. The RC Beijing was admitted on August 30th,1924. Both clubs were terminated on December 31st, 1943, possibly due to the war against Japan. In the offical directory for 1943-44, there are 25 clubs listed in China. The Beijing and Shanghai clubs were re-organized after the war in 1946 and again officially closed on October 16th, 1951. In the 1950-51 offical directory there are 29 clubs listed in China. In 1951 the UN declared China to be an aggressor in Korea and sanctioned a global embargo on the shipment of arms and war material to China. As a counter-move China started a campain against the enemies of the state, consisting of “war criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and counterrevolutionaries” – to which category Rotarians belonged remains open to discussion.

Picture 2 The RC Shanghai has provided an additional building for the Institution for Chinese Blind [The Rotarian, February 1924]

The following is partly based on an article of Arthur Melville “Over the Great Wall – Rotary Service storms the barricade of racial antipathy” [The Rotarian, February 1924]

In 1919, Roger D. Pinneo, former president of the RC Seattle, went abroad on an extended business trip for the Pacific Steam Company. Interested in the possibilities of Rotary extension he conferred with Rotary Headquaters and sought permission to establish a club in Manila. The successful organization of the RC Manila inspired him to further efforts, so he turned his attention to Shanghai. As the result of his work, Shanghai Rotary was elected to membership on October 1st, 1919, and started its career with 37 charter members, who met first at the Palace Hotel. Dr. Julian Petit was elected the first president, and did yeoman service in getting the club away to a true start, as well as his work as successor to George L. Treadwell, the latter having been elected the first secretary. “Tread” later returned to the United States an became fulltime secretary of Chicago Rotary.

Picture 3 "To prevent smallpox vaccinate at once". This poster represented the first effort of the Committee on Health Education formed by Shanghai Rotary [The Rotarian, September 1926]

The list of charter members did not reveal a single Chinese name – but in the succeeding years Shanghai Rotary has purposely acquired a cosmopolitan character, so that in 1924 its membership was 80% American, 10% British, and 10% native Chinese. To develop friendly relations between the nationalities represented in Shanghai, the club also pursued various means of working with Chinese and foreign boys. Two of these were a co-operation with the Shanghai American School and service to the Institution for Chinese Blind.

My special thanks go to Francine Keyes of Rotary International for her always friendly and quick help with archive material.