Through out the spring, 12 students from China and Finland have participated in our 12 weeks long beginners course to the Swedish language. Last week we concluded the course with a grand graduation ceremony where the students showed off their newly accuired skills.

The course was specially designed by Beijing Foreign Studies University’s school of European Languages and Cultures, who today is the only University program in China where one can do graduate with a bachelor in the Swedish language.

A big thank you to our teacher Joel, and Gina from BFSU and all of the students who entrusted us with their learning. And to Yuchen and Qun who joined the class and told the students personal stories about what it is like to learn Swedish and live in Sweden as a Chinese citizen.

We would also like to send a special thanks to SWEA who contributed with their cook book “Med kniv och gaffel i Kina” as graduation gifts to the students.

Are you interested in learning Swedish with us this fall? This autumn we will start a beginner course in Shanghai starting in August that you can sign up to already now, and in Beijing you will have another chance to join a course later this fall.

April 20th the 5th Swedish Career Fair was held in Beijing. The Swedish Career Fair is arranged annually both in Beijing and in Shanghai and it is a platform where talented young professionals can meet with company representatives to exchange ideas and opportunities. 

This year the fair was held at Renmin University in Beijing and attracted 350 guests and 16 exhibiting companies. The guests also had the opportunity to attend seminars and learn about White Peak’s new sustainable co-living concept Stey, what it is like to work and live in Sweden through a panel discussion with the Swedish Chinese Alumni Association and how to implement a sustainable leadership from Scania as well as the possibility to take professional CV photos. 

Click here to learn more about the Swedish Career Fair. 

 

Who are we?
The Swedish Young Professionals in China (YP) is the youth committee of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China. We focus on connecting young talented individuals with companies in Shanghai and Beijing through a range of activities such as company visits, midsummer parties and inspiring seminars.

What responsibilities will you have as a Board Director?
Joining the YP family means you’ll have the role as a Board Director together with four to five other young professionals in Shanghai
Engaging as a Board Director is an unpaid commitment, however we respect that your work or studies are priority
You will drive projects that you voluntarily have committed to
You will participate in as many of our events as possible

Who are you?
Knowledge in the Chinese and Swedish market
Experienced in project management, social media and WeChat
Looking to expand your network in China
Driven and excited to lead projects
Able to be creative and work well in teams
Spoken Mandarin is meritorious

How to apply?
Send an email (brief introduction and CV) to: Linn@swedcham.cn no later than April 30. Interviews will start in May.

Hope to see you! 🇸🇪🇨🇳

Crawling ivy, hammock chairs, bamboo screens, bird nest work stations, the place has fully embodied “green innovation” with ingenious décor ideas. Stepping into EF’s office on Jiu An Plaza, you will wonder if you have fallen into a wonderland.

As a global education company, EF is on a mission to open the world through education. The knowledge they are spreading is more than just language and culture, but also about environmental awareness.

EF joined SwedCham’s No Plastic! Challenge last year but their sustainability effort can be traced back before then. In 2017, they started to actively raise awareness and screened the documentary A Plastic Ocean to trigger more green thinking.

In 2018 and 2019, EF took the chance to leverage Women’s Day to promote office sustainability: a little surprise give-away to their female employees in China with beautiful bamboo cutlery kits and a set of reusable metal straws to replace single-use plastic items.

EF have come up with more daily measures to minimise the non-reusable materials. They changed all hand soaps to eco&more essential oil based products, and hosted monthly refill events for employees, which largely reduced the plastic packages.

Water filters were installed on each floor so no more plastic barrels or plastic bottles will be in used for water consumption. You can even find a full-time a-yi bustling around the in-house kitchen to cook green and healthy food for EF employees.

EF has been dedicated to making a difference by letting people be more aware of the choices they make in their everyday life and sharing ideas on how to reduce environmental footprints.

Join our upcoming Sharp Talk – Sustainable Workplace held at EF headquarter, and have a tour around their green office to see what a No Plastic! worklife is like!

BJ: This Saturday Björn and Louise Gremner from AntikWest invited us to their exhibition hall, Jiguge Antiques, in Liulichang to share how to identify and date Chinese porcelains.

AntikWest was founded in 1971 by Björn Gremner, Managing Director and expert in Chinese porcelain and art. Their main focus is sales and marketing of Chinese antiques but they also do consulting on Chinese culture and objects. Björn Gremner is known from Swedish TV-show Antikrundan where he consults as an expert on Chinese and Japanese porcelain and art.

When looking at “Chinese Porcelain” as a whole, Björn suggests to divide the porcelain in two major groups – Chinese market porcelain and Chinese export porcelain. The Chinese market porcelain is primarily made for the Asian market and includes both the imperial ware and ordinary ware. Both of these groups often carry base marks. Antique export porcelain on the other hand, very seldom carry base marks.

The difference between antique pieces made for different markets is found both in their shapes, which depends on their intended use, and their decoration. Flat plates is a western requirement as is handles on tea cups. Most pieces you can sort up easily by comparing with textiles from the area.

The western 17th to 19th century shapes are typically flat and deep plates with condiment flanges, chargers, tea and coffee cups with or without handles, dishes, soup tureens, jugs, pitchers and the like. The Chinese common folks themselves mostly settled for soup bowls of medium size and jars for storage of different size according to what were to go in them. Small jars and boxes for condiments and this and that are the most common of the Asian market shapes.

Björn’s 3 tips for the novice collector of Chinese porcelain:
1. Buy the items outside from China – for someone with limited knowledge about Chinese antiques it is today rare to find old porcelain in China that is manufactured.
2. During the 14th – 19th centuries the porcelain was very thin, so if the porcelain is thicker it might be a replica.
3. Always look at the bases of the ceramics – the way a base of a vessel is cut, finished and glazed changes throughout the dynasties, so looking at bases can help enormously with dating and authentication.

The Chamber

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China is a non-profit, non-governmental organization with 260 Swedish and Sweden-related member companies, officially recognized as a foreign chamber of commerce by the PRC. The Chamber is headquartered in Beijing with representation in Shanghai. Our mission is to advance our members’ business interests through Networking, Information and Advocacy. To that end, our activities include events, open seminars, closed-door dialogues, surveys, reports, white papers, as well as top-level meetings. Furthermore, we aim to improve Sino-Swedish business ties and promote our members and the Swedish brand through the Team Sweden collaboration with among others the Swedish Embassy, the Shanghai Consulate and Business Sweden, etc.

The Role

We are looking for a passionate and energetic individual to further the Chamber’s strategic development and its member-centered expansion. The position involves overall responsibility before the Board of Directors for the design and implementation of the Chamber’s business strategy, as well as the organization’s performance and financial result. The ideal candidate should display strong leadership skills in organizational change, leading a distributed organization, and cross-cultural management.

Main responsibilities:

• Propose the Chamber’s strategy, in close collaboration with the Board of Directors, Chapter Boards, and offices.
• Taking the leading role in shaping the Chamber’s annual business plan and budget.
• Lead the Chamber’s day to day activities and implementation of the business and activity plan.
• Responsible for budgeting and P&L.
• Overall team management responsibilities for two localized offices (Beijing and Shanghai).
• Participate in board meetings. Report to board informed about activities, development and deviations to plans and budgets.
• Represent the Chamber in meetings with members and partners, in public and media appearances and in supporting members activities.
• Monitor Swedish, Chinese and international business trends and ensure members are informed about relevant changes.
• Representing the Chamber at Team Sweden activities and maintain the Chamber’s relationship with the Team Sweden members.

Your Profile

To be successful in the position, we believe that you:

• Have a university education and 5 years working experience.
• Business English proficiency. You are also fluent in Swedish. Mandarin proficiency is beneficial.
• Have previous experience of working in or with China. Being currently based in China is an advantage.
• Have a track record of management experience in a service organization, preferably membership-based.
• Are able to build professional relationships with people at all seniority levels, from all backgrounds, and a across a wide range of industries, being visible, reachable, relationship-building and charismatic.
• Have experience of multi-stakeholder partnerships, ideally including public, private, and non-profit actors.
• Have experience from managing teams, including recruitment and employee development.
• Have experience from organizing events, from smaller business seminars to large social dinners.
• Have the possibility to travel within the country on a monthly basis, and internationally from time to time.

Practical Details

This is a full time position with local contract.

It’s a benefit if the candidate is in China already with a valid working permit.

Target starting date is June-Aug., 2019.

Apply

Applications will be processed on an ongoing basis. To apply please submit a resume with estimate of salary expectations, and visa status.

For questions regarding the position or to apply please contact:

Joakim Hedhill at: johe20@handelsbanken.cn (Beijing)

Per Lindén at: per.linden@scandicsourcing.com (Shanghai)

Questions regarding the position can also be directed to Martin Vercouter, the current holder, at martin@swedcham.cn.