Culture

German club forges links with locals

By Huang Yuli (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-11 07:59

Kathrin Bruggemeier (left) and Nicole Sehi organize the monthly German club, which was founded in 2007. [Provided to China Daily]

Thomas Trommler, director of a German consulting company, has been attending a monthly German club in the city since 2007. He has only missed the event twice, and both times he was on a business trip.

"It's a good opportunity for networking for business as well as a social occasion," he said.

Trommler added that it was surprising how many Chinese attend the meetings - each time around 40 percent are Chinese.

"They are really good at speaking German," he said, "I enjoy the cultural exchange between the Chinese and Germans."

The club meets once a month on a Wednesday evening at Schindlers Anlegestelle, a German restaurant in Sanlitun.

Members of the club, who are mainly people from German-speaking countries, and Chinese who speak German, come from all over the city to enjoy a special menu and free beer.

Kathrin Bruggemeier, 29, a conference manager and the founder of the club, said that the club is an informal bridge between Germans, Austrians, and German Swiss living in Beijing and German speaking Chinese.

Bruggemeier started the club because she felt lost and frustrated when she first came to Beijing in 2007 and from the start it proved to be very popular. The first meeting attracted more than 60 people.

Consultant Nicole Sehi, 28, joined Bruggemeier in running the club one year later. It now attracts over 200 people and activities also include lectures, cocktail parties, short tours and other events as well as the Wednesday evening meetings.