October has become synonymous around the world for a good German party, and Germany's Ambassador Dr Michael Schaefer kicked the month off in style with a reception Oct 7 on the Beijing embassy grounds to celebrate his country's reunification day. About 3,000 people enjoyed German food, cultural displays, music and a steady flow of German beer, says Eike Clausen, sales manager at the Kempinski hotel, which catered the event.

A few days later, the embassy's Axel Gugel was at the Kempinki's Oktoberfest tent, hosting about 50 enthusiasts of the embassy's blog and microblogs. About 30 of the most frequent Chinese posters on deyinxiang.org joined embassy staff and suppliers for an evening of beery Bavarian fun.

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The Polish embassy hosted a preview for the 1st European Union Film Festival for Young Audiences, which opened Oct 14 and continues through the month as an independent part of the 4th EU Film Festival. Poland currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. The youth festival was prepared in Poland by the Children's Art Center in Poznan in cooperation with the embassy, to show the Chinese public "the new face of European young audience cinematography" from the 21st century. Poland will be represented by The Magic Tree, directed by Andrzej Maleszka, who is in Beijing for the festival opening, as well as Copernicus's Star and The Golden Collection of Polish Animation for Children, a collection from the years 1958 to 2008.

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The Polish embassy also hosted a reception for photo-artist Ryszard Horowitz, who is in Beijing for a retrospective show at the Rose Gallery in Beijing's hip 798 Art District. The show is part of the annual 798 Art Festival and the China celebration of Poland's presidency of the Council of the European Union, which began on July 1. Horowitz is renowned for blending the art genres of painting and photography. His show in Beijing ends Oct 26 and will travel on to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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The Slovenia embassy announced the opening this week of a solo exhibition by Wang Huiqin, a Chinese-Slovenian artist who has lived and working in Ljubljana for 20 years since she finished her art education in Nanjing. Wang's show is at the White Box Museum of Art in Beijing's 798 Art District.

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Belgian ambassador Patrick Nils is hosting the advance team for Crown Prince Philippe's visit later this month. The prince will bring about 400 people on a mission for business development and to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

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Iurie Leanca, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and European integration of the Republic of Moldova, paid an official visit to China last week at the invitation of Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

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Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen will host an official reception at his residence for the senior representatives of China Wind Power 2011, which takes place in Beijing Oct 19-21. The reception will be co-hosted by Invest in Denmark. Co-organizers are China Wind Energy Association and China Renewable Energy Industry Association. The objective of the reception is to help Chinese wind power companies understand the competences of the Danish wind power industry.

The first China-Denmark Wind Power Day was held on July 15, 2010 at the Shanghai Expo, where 40 Chinese wind power companies participated.

Embassy news can be sent to mike.peters.cd@gmail.com.

(China Daily 10/16/2011 page5)