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YMCA Guangzhou

YMCA Guangzhou is a non-profit, social-welfare organization with Christian background. Founded in 1909, the organization is based in the major South-China city of Guangzhou, and is one of the 10 remaining YMCAs in mainland China. Mainly serving the youth and the underprivileged, it conducts various programs in community care, social services or cross-border exchanges.

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Logo of YMCA Guangzhou
Formation	1909 (1909)
Type	Non-profit
Website	http://www.gzymca.org/Index/main.html

History

In Early and Mid- 20th Century: the Association's Past

By the beginning of the 20th century, the YMCA movement had already spread to China. City-based YMCAs in China were a part of Foreign Work or World Service by the then International Committee of YMCAs of North America. The first YMCA of this kind was founded in Tianjing, in 1895. The origin of Guangzhou YMCA could date back to 1904, since when western missionaries and later Chinese Christians in the city had voiced their wish for a local organization. In 1906 the North America headquarters responded by sending a secretary F. O. Leiser to Guangdong (first to Hongkong). With a joint effort of local enthusiasts, the International Committee, and the then YMCA headquarters of China and Korea, Guangzhou YMCA was officially founded in 1909.

In the inception year the organization held its first membership recruitment and started to publish its internal journals. In the same year 12 Chinese men were selected to form the Board of Directors; the first General Secretary was F. O. Leiser. Directors, elected by Christian members who were entitled to vote, held the power of staffing the organization and managing the funds. The head of the Board was also the President of the Association. Secretaries were executives who conducted the operational work. There were non-secretary staffers as well.

The then new building of YMCA Guangzhou

The organization was at first housed at a former Baptist church in a river-side area called the Bund (长堤 ). In 1916, with funds partly raised itself and partly donated by the International Committee of YMCAs in North America, it opened a new building, which was also the Morrison Memorial, erected in a piece of land that was an extension of the previous site. A three-storey, Spanish-style building, the new location contained numerous and then-advanced facilities in the city: a gymnasium with lockers, hot-water showers, and a running track; the first and only open-air swimming pool in Guangzhou at that time; an auditorium that could seat over 1000 people; a garden and a pond on the rooftop.

For a time after the Republic of China was founded in 1912, YMCA Guangzhou saw its activities grow substantially, with religious, educational, athletic, and social programs as the four pillars. These were in line with the "four-fold program" in North American YMCAs focusing on the "spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social development" of individuals. Its religious activities included various Bible study classes, lectures, personal conversations and more influential, grand evangelical meetings featuring religious or YMCA figures such as John Mott, Rev. Frank Buchman, and Sherwood Eddy, whose audience even included Dr. Sun Yat-sen. YMCA Guangzhou ran a night school and a daytime business school, opened in 1909 and 1910 respectively. Both schools mainly provided vocational education; among the teachers were secretaries from the USA and Chinese who had studied abroad. Another, more popular education program was lectures in a variety of topics, forms and locations. In 1913, facilitated by its president who was also the education chief of Guangdong province, the organization invited the Lecture Department secretary Robertson to give science lectures listened by "all students above elementary schools" . Statistics in 1921 showed that a total of 41, 296 people listened to lectures presented by YMCA Guangzhou that year. Enabled by the pool and the gymnasium in its new building, the Guangzhou YMCA offered PE classes for a variety of groups. It also participated in the athletic cause of the city as well. Secretaries of YMCA Guangzhou helped organize the 6th (1917), 7th (1918) and 8th (1921) sports meet of Guangdong province. Physical Directors of the organization led delegates from Guangdong to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Far Eastern Games.

After 1949 when People's Republic of China was founded, YMCA Guangzhou, like its counterparts in China, severed its affiliation with North American YMCAs. During the middle 1960s, in the midst of Great Cultural Revolution, activities of YMCA Guangzhou halted.

Since the Late 20th Century: Resuscitation

Present Building of YMCA Guangzhou

In 1985, the re-opening ceremony of YMCA (along with YMCA) Guangzhou was held in its old building. In 1992, the land the building on the Bund stood on was taken over by the government. Later the building was demolished. In 2009, YMCA Guangzhou moved to its current main office, at 1 Peizhen Road, where its American secretaries in the past used to live.

Emblems and Motto

Formal Emblem

Today's YMCA Guangzhou continues using its old emblem. Right in the centre is the Bible, showing John 17:21. Around the Bible are a red triangle and two circles. On each edge of the triangle is a word in traditional Chinese . The upper one is "德育” (moral development); the left, "智育" (intellectual development); and the right "體育” (physical development).

Simplified Emblem

The organization also adopts the simplified emblem of the world's YMCAs, a blue banner with the acronym "YMCA" on a red triangle.

Motto

The Guangzhou Association's motto, now and in the past, has been "非以役人，乃役于人", a Chinese translation of "Not to be served, but to serve", from the Gospel of Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of today's YMCA Guangzhou is much identical to that in the past, with a slight adjustment. The membership consists of regular members and core members. Regular membership is open for people regardless of their religions. Core membership is set to contain Christians who take up 80% of the number. Every 5 years the assembly of core members elect the board of directors, who then vote for the President and the general secretary. Secretaries are assigned into different departments, where there are also non-secretary staffers. In 2014, in compliance with local regulations on non-governmental organizations, Guangzhou YMCA established a board of supervisors. Also elected by the assembly of core members, this committee monitors the conduct of directors, the finances of the organization, etc. The organization's rule stipulates that the president, vice president, general secretary, and the supervisor' chief must be Christians. Members of the YMCA Guangzhou form two “Y's Men's Clubs", clubs that assist the work of the organization.

Services

By sources of funds, the services and activities today's YMCA Guangzhou conducts can be classified into three categories. One is community work. This is a public-private partnership, through which the organization operates three community centres financed by the government. Another is charitable work funded with other's donations. This category covers a wide range of services, such as education programs, rehabilitation assistance, care for senior citizens, etc. One of its flagship program is awareness campaign about thalassemia, a disease a relatively high percentage of people are diagnosed with in its base province. The last category is paid services. This mostly includes exchange or education programs called "camps". Many of the cross-border exchange programs are in cooperation with YMCAs outside mainland China. Aside from its staff, there are nearly 10,000 registered volunteers who participate in its work.

External Relations

YMCA Guangzhou is a member of the National Council of YMCAs of China, which then joins in the Asian and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs and the World Alliance of YMCAs.

The organization itself maintains ties with its counterpart in Hongkong (the Chinese YMCA of Hongkong), Macau, Nuremburg, Bavaria, and Wakayama. Mutual visits are regularly made. Leaders of YMCA Guangzhou also take intermittent visits to other YMCAs, for example YMCA Cambodia and YMCA London.

External Links

1. 2017 Annual Report of YMCA Guangzhou
2. Records of YMCA international work in China, Kauts Family YMCA Archives · University of Minnesota Liabraries