In Beijing, a Network of Clubs Powers the Alumni Community

Long before Yuting Hua ’22 even arrived at SOM, she was welcomed into the alumni community in Beijing.

Hua’s introduction to the community came through the SOM Alumni Association’s Beijing chapter, which hosts recruiting events for prospective students and welcome events for admitted students in partnership with the university’s alumni group, the Yale Club of Beijing, and the Yale Center Beijing, a 16,500-square-foot space in the city’s Chaoyang District.

“Back when I was applying to SOM, I got a lot of great help from more senior alumni,” says Hua, a graduate of the Master of Advanced Management. “After my admission, they gave me valuable advice on studying and living in the United States.”

She was joining a vibrant community. About 600 SOM alumni are based in China, including between 100 and 200 in Beijing.Working together, the SOM Alumni Association, the Yale Club, and the Yale Center Beijing organize lectures and workshops, including the Yale U.S.-China Forum, social gatherings, and service projects—all of which work to keep alumni engaged long after graduation.

The community of SOM alumni in particular became more active and engaged in 2014, around the time the Yale Center Beijing opened, according to Helen Sun ’13, a graduate of the Master of Advanced Management program who now serves as president of the Yale Club of Beijing and a leader of the SOM Alumni Association’s Beijing chapter, and Judy Liang Zhang ’12, an MBA graduate and another leader of the Beijing chapter.

The Yale Club of Beijing, which won the Yale Alumni Board of Governors Excellence Award for five straight years, averages about 30 events per year and one major event per month, Sun says, and SOM alumni feature prominently as speakers, participants, and attendees. The club partners with the alumni organizations of other Ivy League schools, and many Yale Center Beijing events are open to the public. Members report forming many friendships and business relationships at the events—and at least two couples who met on Yale Club of Beijing outings went on to get married.

Even Sun, who had long been active in Yale-wide alumni groups, made new and fruitful connections through the SOM community in Beijing. She first met Sally Shan ’97 through alumni events in Beijing; Shan later served as her professional coach, and the two have since joined the same venture capital fund, becoming colleagues.

After Siyu Wang ’23 graduated from the Master’s in Global Business and Society program, she joined a nonprofit operating in mainland China and Hong Kong. When she moved back to Beijing in 2024, she enjoyed the alumni events so much she went to work at the Yale Center Beijing as operations coordinator.

“We are a family,” Wang says. “We support each other. We are a home away from home for Yale faculty, students, and alumni.”

Hua, who organizes and often moderates events for the Yale Club of Beijing as secretary, agrees. She started as a volunteer planning events for the organization before signing on as a board member.

“Here, we connect purely out of genuine Yale friendship,” she says. “I get something from this community, and I wanted to contribute as well.”

Zhang, global partner and head of China at Cambridge Associates, echoed that sentiment. After she moved back to Beijing from Boston in 2014, she immediately connected with the alumni community she now helps lead.

“When I was on campus, I couldn’t believe the quality of the people I met,” she says. “I didn’t want that to end. It’s like a continuation of your campus life.”

Zhang says that alumni connections have proved a professional boon; members of the Beijing network have even introduced her to investment opportunities. Now, she enjoys paying it forward by serving as a mentor and sounding board for younger alumni getting started in China’s finance industry.

“I have been the beneficiary of many senior alumni, and now I am a senior alum passing on the good will,” Zhang says. “My only ask is that they continue to pass on the favors.”