Diplomatic Pouch | Mike Peters

Italian Ambassador Alberto Bradanini recently hosted his first National Day in China, with a huge garden party at the embassy on a fine summer night. A formal buffet in the residence was supplemented by chefs serving red, white and green pasta in the garden, where Italian wines, savory cheeses and rich gelato were also available for the overflow crowd. Many Italian companies that do business in China also exhibited their wares. Women guests each received a long-stemmed red rose.

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Australia's Ambassador to China Frances Adamson recently joined Westpac Group CEO Gail Kelly at the Grand Hyatt Beijing to salute the 2013 winners of the Australia-China Business Awards. The gala awards ceremony recognized Australia's most innovative and enterprising companies who have successfully contributed to the China-Australia business relationship.

This year's winners included steel and engineering leader BlueScope Steel, bulk material handling specialists Mitchells Equipment, loyalty and rewards marketing company Pinpoint, sustainable personal care products producer Eco & More and iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group.

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Milan Chovanec, governor of the Czech Republic's Pilsen region, was unable to join the first part of a trade mission to China because of massive flooding that has brought parts of his country to a halt. Ambassador Libor Secka and his wife, Sabrina, welcomed the delegation led by Chovanec's deputy, Vaclav Slajs, for a reception in Beijing. Chovanec caught up with the group last weekend in Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou for the rest of the trip, which also included stops in Ningbo, Tongxiang, Suzhou and Shanghai. The delegation included officials and representatives of several big Czech companies from the railway, aviation, telecommunications and electronic industries.

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Argentina's ambassador Gustavo Martino and Xie Yuan, vice-president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, introduced Jia Lin and Peng Danyang as the winners of the first China Argentine Tango Championship earlier this month at the Public Diplomacy and Culture Exchange Center. The duo won tickets to travel to Buenos Aires in August to participate in the international competition Tango Buenos Aires Mundial 2013.

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The consulates of Hungary and Denmark in Shanghai recently joined forces with the Shanghai Institute of Language and Culture to present a salon of traditional Chinese Kunqu Opera, which is one of China's oldest and most influential theatrical traditions. The newly opened institute hosted about 50 interested participants for an introduction to this more than 600-year-old art form.

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Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen welcomed his country's nationals to the embassy residence for Danish Constitution Day earlier this month. Special guests included Zhai Jun, Chinese vice-minister of foreign affairs.

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Lars Freden, Sweden's Ambassador to China, hosted more than 1,400 Swedish, Chinese and international guests for a National Day party early this month, with activities giving a taste of Swedish summer. The Original Band of ABBA Music, consisting of musicians who played on the original ABBA recordings and concerts, performed for a singing and dancing crowd on the Embassy's "Midsummer Meadow". Heyrobics did a flash mob of Swedish "jympa" exercise, and children from the Swedish School in Beijing danced traditional festival dances around the Midsummer Pole. Swedish pianist Bjorn Roslund performed Swedish folk music with Chinese erhu player Yang Lingling.

Send embassy news to michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 06/16/2013 page5)