Hong Kong Christian Service has always inclined to shoulder the burden in the development of social welfare in China. Ever since 1992, we have invited a total of 24 social work post-graduate students from the Sociology Department of Peking University to participate in our internship program in Hong Kong. Three students were assigned from Peking to take part in the internship from September 1st to September 26th this year.

In order for our local colleagues to keep abreast of the social welfare development in China, we encourage them to attend the annual seminars that we have been putting together toward the end of each internship program, when the students will share their updated research and insights on the Mainland social welfare and services.

For the first time ever we had invited colleagues from among other social service agencies to join our annual seminar this year. There were 14 guest-participants from outside agencies making a total of 26 people attended. Feature topics such as "Community Service for the Elderly in China" (Beijing Tsinghua Community Service Centre as an example), "The Development of Non-governmental Organizations in Beijing" and "The History, Development and Challenges of Volunteer Activities in the Mainland" were presented. Albeit the lightheartedness, our guests demonstrated their solicitude in the social welfare development in China throughout the meeting.

Notwithstanding the first attempt for us to involve outsiders in our annual meeting, their feedback confirmed the value of such kind of activity as to gaining a better understanding of the social welfare development in our home country. We were encouraged as many of those attended expressed their wish to return next year for a similar experience.