TAS ChinaCommunity leaders
For associations and those who lead them.
Hometown associations, clan and alumni associations and chambers of commerce are the oldest institutions of Chinese life abroad. TAS China exists to strengthen them. Your association joins at no cost, and keeps everything that makes it yours.
Who it is for
Every kind of association that Chinese communities have built.
Old or newly formed, registered or informal, a hundred members or ten thousand: if people have gathered to look after one another, there is a seat for them.
Hometown associations 同乡会
The first door a newcomer knocks on, organised by province, county or town.
Clan and family associations 宗亲会
Keepers of the family name, the genealogy and the duty to one’s own.
Alumni associations 校友会
Graduates of the same university, in every city where they have settled.
Student and scholar associations 学联
The first community of a student who has arrived alone.
Chambers of commerce 商会
Shopkeepers, restaurateurs, traders and founders who speak for local business.
Cultural and language-school associations
Weekend Chinese schools, arts troupes, and festival committees.
Faith communities
Congregations and temples that care for their members in every season of life.
Professional associations
Engineers, doctors, nurses, accountants and teachers who guide those who follow.
What you receive
What your association receives, and what it keeps.
It receives
Membership of the network, at no cost
Your association joins free. There is nothing to pay on joining, and nothing afterwards.
The benefits, for every member
Each member of your association holds the card and all twelve areas of benefit. Membership is free for each of them.
Visibility
Families and students who arrive in your city find your association through the network.
A voice
Your association tells us what its members need most, and we carry it into what we negotiate.
The Mutual Aid Compact
A place among the associations that stand together when a member dies far from home.
It keeps
Its name
Your association is listed under its own name, in its own words.
Its money
We never ask for your accounts, your dues or a share of anything you raise.
Its leadership
Your officers and your elections are yours alone.
Its independence
Your association joins a network. It does not become a branch of anything.
Its members’ privacy
We never ask for your membership list. Each member joins for themselves, and we never ask anyone about status.
Mutual Aid Compact
The Mutual Aid Compact.
The compact is a commitment between the associations of the network. When a member dies far from home, or a family is struck by a sudden emergency, the associations of the compact stand together. They share the work, guide the family, and help to bring the member home or to give them a dignified farewell where they lived.
It is the old duty of the hometown association, carried by many associations at once, so that no single community has to pass the hat alone.
When a member dies
When a member dies far from home.
A calm orientation for the family and for the officers of the association, in the order in which things usually happen.
In the first hours
If the death was sudden, call the local emergency number; the police or a doctor will explain what happens next. Tell the family, and agree on one person who speaks for them.
Tell your association, and tell us
Contact your association’s officers and write to us. Someone in the network who has walked this road before guides you from here.
The death certificate
Ask the hospital, the funeral director or the civil registry for the official death certificate, and request several certified copies. Almost every later step asks for one.
The consulate
Contact the consulate of the country whose passport the person held. It explains the documents needed to bring someone home and certifies certain papers. It does not pay the costs.
Bringing them home, or a farewell where they lived
The family decides. A licensed funeral director arranges either. Transport home needs permits and preparation, which the director obtains; a local burial or cremation follows local rules and the family’s customs.
The papers that follow
An insurance claim, a bank account, a lease, an employer or a university: keep one list, and ask us for referrals to qualified professionals where they are needed.
The community’s part
The associations organise the remembrance, support the family in the weeks that follow, and keep them in touch with home. No family walks this road alone.
General information, not legal advice. Procedures differ from country to country; the funeral director and the consulate confirm what applies.
Register
Register your association.
Associations join at no cost. The network is for associations outside mainland China.
Questions
Questions leaders ask.
Does joining cost our association anything?
No. Associations join at no cost, and membership is free for each of your members.
Do we give up our name or our independence?
No. Your association keeps its name, its funds, its leadership and its independence. It joins a network; it does not become a branch.
Do you ask for our membership list?
No. Each member joins for themselves and may name your association, and we link them to it with their consent.
Is the Mutual Aid Compact insurance?
No. It is a commitment between associations to stand together. It is not insurance and creates no right to payment. Members arrange insurance through licensed providers.
We are an informal group without registration. Can we join?
Yes. Any community of people who look after one another can join, provided one named person speaks for it.
Our association is in mainland China. Can we join?
The network of TAS China is for associations outside mainland China. Associations of international residents in China join through the house of their home region.