About Us
Brits Abroad Shanghai is a not-for-profit group run by a committee of volunteers set up over 25 years ago. Our aim is to provide a welcoming environment for expatriates living in Shanghai - supporting new arrivals through those first few bewildering weeks and organising a wide variety of social events and other activities. Full membership is open to families who live in or near Shanghai, where at least one family member holds a British passport. We also welcome families of other nationalities as associate members to make up to 45% of our total membership. To respect Chinese government regulations, membership is available to foreign passport holders only. For all members, old and new, we run a number of regular weekly and monthly activities:
Book Club – held once a month at Bull & Claw, 110 Fenyang Lu, to discuss a selection of books agreed on by the group members.
Informative & Fitness Walks - held monthly on varying days to explore the city and walk off a few of the calories consumed at our other events.
May I – held on Wednesday afternoons at Abbey Road, 3 Taojiang Lu, near Hengshan Lu for those who want to play this card game, which is similar to rummy and very easy to learn.
Mahjong – held on Monday afternoons at Abbey Road, 3 Taojiang Lu near Hengshan Lu for those who want to play this Chinese game which is similar to rummy but played with tiles. There is always a beginners’ table for those who are new to the game.
Monthly Coffee Morning – held once each month in a variety of venues around the city.
In addition to these regular events, we also have fun quizzes, popular lunches, weekend socials, visits to places of interest, night cycles and many other activities, including wine tastings, cookery classes, craft workshops and annual charitable events such as International Woman’s Day, Breast Cancer Awareness & the Christmas Party. For exact details of dates, times, venues and costs for all our activities and events, please check the calendar and follow the links for more information and to sign up.
Elsewhere on the website, you can find the extensive list of discounts offered to Brits Abroad Members by local organisations.
After the expenses of staging events and running the organisation, all the proceeds from our social events, clubs and membership fees are used in our Community Outreach Programme for the benefit of local charitable organisations. Many of our members derive great personal satisfaction from volunteering with one of our community outreach partners.
You can read in more detail about the activities and events in our Annual Report: 2023-24 Annual Report