AustCham Beijing ends 2008 with a full calendar of events and charitable Christmas cheer, writes Chairman Roger Wolfe.

As the year comes to a close I would like to thank members and friends of the AustCham Beijing community for their continued support this year. 2008 has been a year of great achievement but also great sadness given the terrible tragedy of the Sichuan earthquake. The Olympic Games were truly spectacular and China should be justifiably proud of their successful hosting of the 29th Olympiad and especially the Paralympics.

After all that has happened already this year we now find the world's fiscal environment in turmoil. It is timely and appropriate to consider any risks or exposure our respective businesses will face in the short term. We must continue to be innovative and assess opportunities that arise out of the current crisis knowing that in the medium to long term the fundamentals in China appear quite sound.

NEW AUSTCHAM DIRECTORS

We are delighted to welcome John Pauline from PTW Architects as a new Board Member and Alan Morrell, Senior Trade Commissioner, Austrade as an ex-officious Board Member.

We would like to extend a big thank you to Wayne Mo (ANZ) and Phil Ingram (Austrade) for their hard work on the board, and wish both the best of luck moving onto new challenges.

RECENT EVENTS

PARALYMPICS CHEQUE - JIA YOU AODALIYA!

At the 2008 Gold and Glamorous Ball, more than RMB 500,000 was raised for our two nominated charities - the Australian Paralympic Team and Chinese Disabled Persons Federation. We would like to thank and acknowledge H.E. Ambassador Geoff Raby and the Embassy for their support, and special thanks to Austrade for donating the flagship auction item - two Opening Ceremony Tickets. It was with great honour that AustCham Beijing presented a cheque for RMB 275,000 to Greg Hartung, President of the Paralympic Committee, for the Australian Paralympic Team.

GOLF DAY 2008

The AustCham Beijing Lloyd Morgan Golf Day took place in September at Tianzhu Golf Course. Proceeds from money raised were donated to Ronald McDonald House Charity.

A special thank you to our Title Sponsor Lloyd Morgan, our Hole Sponsors ANZ, Ausenco, Datacraft, Intertek, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, McDonald's China and Sensis and our in-kind sponsors Asia Miles, Elders Fine Foods and The Wine Republic.

Winners List
1st Place - Ausenco
Jon Bentley, Steve McLean, Nigel Elven,
Royce McAuslane

2nd Place - Sensis
Rob Rath, Luke O'Neill and Anthony Polovineo

3rd Place - Spaceframe

David Martin, Richard Wendt, Hamish

Campbell and Dan Baird

Lowest Gross - Intertek

Scott Sloane, John McKenna, Glenn McKay
and Glenn Sheldon

Nearest the Pins
Hole C6: Glenn McKay, Hole C3: John McKenna,
Hole W6: Paul D'Arcy, Hole W8: Steve McLean

Best Dressed: Matt Francis (Mens) and
Ros Rath (Ladies)

Congratulations to Ausenco and all our winners who will surely be out to defend their titles again next year.

L-R: Ronald Thompson, Christian Buttrose (Managing Director, Lloyd
Morgan China Ltd), Alfred Chown, Executive General Manager, Lloyd
Morgan Asia and Dan Landegren with Golf Pro Michael Willis.

MELBOURNE CUP

AustCham Beijing celebrated Melbourne Cup in style by attending ANZA's event at the Hilton Hotel. AustCham Beijing's resident designer donated and designed Couture Headpieces for the Beijing community. The proceeds raised will shortly be donated to Smile Train, an international organisation who provides free cleft lip and cleft palate surgery to children whose families can not afford the corrective surgery.

SEASONS GREETINGS
We wish all members and the broader Australian community a safe and happy holiday season. We are looking forward to a busy and exciting 2009 and we hope to see you all at an event early next year.