• Culture Programs & Events
• Education & Scholarship
• Chinese Garden
• Chinese New Year
• Dragon Boat Festival
• About Us

Education & Scholarship

• At our annual Chinese New Year Celebration at the InterContinental Hotel, Mary Eisenhower, CEO of People to People International, presented this year's Bridge of Friendship Award to Joan Horan of DST Systems, who also accepted the Society for Friendship with China’s Sponsor of the Year award for DST, a ceramic horse to symbolize power, energy and success.
• A special award was given to Jim Hill, the winner of the trip to Xi’an at the 2009 Plaza Art Fair. John Phillips of Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP declared him a Special Envoy between Kansas City and our Sister City, Xi'an, China. read more...
• As envoy, Jim Hill presented a letter from Mayor Mark Funkhouser to Mayor Chen Bao Gen and a proclamation to Han Tang Book City for its generous donation of 200 books each to three rural schools for ten years.
• Presented five $400 scholarships to this year’s recipients at Shaanxi Normal University and ten $30 scholarships to students at each of three rural schools in the Xi’an area, each covering a year’s education.
• Presented a check for $3511 for security wall to be built around Yu Kou school, to be completed in June. It will be dedicated by a group of 25 Kansas and Missouri teachers visiting in July, led by Professor Nancy Hope of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies. read more...
• The KU teachers?group also has joined with The Society for Friendship with China to present a new computer to Yu Kou Primary School and to begin replacement of long outdated equipment.
• Welcoming new Chinese Consul General for Midwest, Mr. Guoqiang Yang of Chicago Consulate to help open cultural performances at Kansas City’s Dragon Boat Races in June.

Below are some projects that the Society for Friendship with China, Inc. have done or are currently sponsoring:

• 1998 We helped Sharon Crain establish a book room at Han Jia Ping School on Chin Mountain top. 800 books were delivered to Han Jia Ping School, books were displayed in teachers’ dormitory (bed room. where they cook and sleep) for there was no library at Han Jia Ping School.
• 2000 Board Member James J. Lloyd matched Xian Sister City fund to build a Library and Learning Center. James J. Lloyd Library and Learning Center in Han Jia Ping primary School was built and equipped.
• 2001 $5000 was donated to An Shang School in Shaanxi, China.
• 2005 $12,000 was donated to An Shang School to buy 600 sets of desk and chair for the students.
• 2002 Sharon Crain, Teresa and Bob Chien visit Han Jia Ping School to renew the friendship. Han Jia Ping School is on the top of the Qin Mountain.
• 2004 The Society arranged KU’s visit to Han Jia Ping School. The Society matched KU $500 to make a $1000 gift for Han Jia Ping School.
• 2005 The Society arranged KU’s visit to Yu Kou School and matched KU’s $500 to make a $1000 gift for Yu Kou School.
• 2006 BEVERLY CHIEN GRAHAM MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS were established at Han Jia Ping, Yu Kou, An Shang primary school and Shaanxi Normal University. Kansas City School teacher led by Mary Lee Sturdevant for summer teaching at BoAi School in Xi’an and visited all three primary schools to deliver the scholarships.
• 2007 Ten teachers and students from Shaanxi Normal University came to Kansas City and performed at the Society’s Chinese New Year celebration, Kansas City Zoo, Paseo Performance Academy.
• 2008 Mayor Pro Tem Bill Skaggs, John Phillips, Bob Chien, Jody Edgerton and Fang Shen visited Zheng Zhou, Cheng Du, Xi An, He Fei, Ning Bo and Shanghai. During the visit, we arranged a book donation project to all three primary schools. We visited Han Jia Ping and Yu Kou schools. At Han Jia Ping School, we delivered 200 new books and paper and supplies, we agreed to pay the fee to hook their computers to the internet. At Yu Kou School, we delivered 200 books and supplies, also agreed to pay the cost to set phone poles and line to their only computer to internet. We also asked Mr. An Wei deliver 200 books to An Shang School.
• 2009 An educational endowment fund established to support annually 5 university students’ and 15 primary students’ scholarships.
• 2009 Heartland Bank, Sprint and Black & Veatch pledged corporate membership to support our Educational Scholarship Fund. (We cannot use the Endowment Fund that will need $80,000 in the bank before we can use any money from interest for the Scholarship $2400 a year we are giving out.)
• 2009 On June 13th, 2000 lotus flower color-changing lanterns floating on the Brush Creek on the day of our Dragon Boat Festival.
• 2009 Scholarship Awards had been given to Ms. Mary Eisenhower, Mrs. Jeannette Nichols, Mr. Michael Newburger and Mr. Larry Moore for their continuous help on Society’s educational projects.

Thirty dollars will pay for all books and supplies to educate one child at one of the three rural primary schools outside Xi'an, China in Shaanxi Province. Any donation is welcome to help build another scholarship so one more child can become literate and fully functional as he or she grows into adult responsibilities. Our support means so much to the next generation of teachers, electricians, doctors, plumbers and farmers, all dependent on reading, math, and science to open the gates to a new world, a new future. Some will go on to secondary schools and universities. We also fund scholarships for some as they matriculate to Shaanxi Normal University in that same province at $400.00 per year. Each of these represents one more child who has grown up knowing that this big world is small and intimate because people halfway around the world care about you. Thank you for your contribution, whatever its size.

If you are interested in participating in any of these programs, please click here to contact us. All contributions to the Society for Friendship with China, Inc. a 501 (c) (3) are tax-deductible.

Back to Top