Breaking the ice, adding champagne

Some of the United States' best brains and most outstanding talents are gathering at the National Center of the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing to kick off the inaugural US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture this morning.

Last night, the participants were fortified for their three-day adventure in China with a special dinner at the US embassy catered by no less than Alice Waters, the doyenne of modern American food culture and owner of the famed Chez Panisse in California.

Her collaborators in this opening banquet were the organic farmers of Beijing.