English brings the room together.
English is the shared language of the programme, with curiosity about one another’s languages welcomed. Fluency matters less than a willingness to listen, speak and take part.
01THE SOCIETY
Eighteen people.A world between them.
A ten-day shared life for eighteen young people aged 15–19: six based in China and twelve from around the world.
DISCOVER THE EXPERIENCE
WHY IT EXISTS
Not a network.
A life shared.
Most international encounters are brief and arranged around an agenda. The Society begins somewhere quieter: eating at the same table, learning something difficult together, and having enough unclaimed time for trust to form.
The aim is not to collect contacts. It is to let another country become personal. China is different when someone you know is waiting there. So is anywhere else.
ONLY
18MEMBERS
Six based in China. Twelve from around the world.Phones away. Time returned.
Phone-free time makes space for longer conversations, shared meals and the ordinary moments through which people become known to one another.
Six teams of three.
Each team brings together one China-based member and two international members. The same three people stay together on the golf course, around the Banyan Lab table and in the final Jade Banyan Cup.
02WHAT REMAINS
Ten days end.
Relationships need not.
The programme closes, and everyone returns to a different place. The friendships, ideas and knowledge of one another can travel further.
Future collaboration is never promised. The Society creates the conditions in which it can become realistic.
THE SOCIETY