Enter the dragon motif

CULTURE \>\> IN CHINA

Jordi Savall

Savall is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. His repertoire ranges from medieval to renaissance and baroque music, though he has occasionally ventured into the classical or even the romantic periods.

Date: May 4-5

Venue: Beijing and Wuhan

Website: http://www.damai.cn

Akram Khan, Beijing

Akram Khan is one of Britain's most innovative and influential dancers. His latest full-scale contemporary ensemble work Vertical Road will be staged.

Date: May 12-13

Venue: Drama Theater of National Center for the Performing Arts

Website: http://www.theatrebeijing.com

TenThing Brass Ensemble, Beijing

The Norwegian ensemble works closely with Norwegian guitarist and arranger Jarle G. Storlokken, who arranges all the group music.

Date: May 15

Venue: Concert Hall of National Center for the Performing Arts

Website: http://www.theatrebeijing.com

CULTURE \>\> IN EUROPE

Fashioning the East-Asian Screen, Nottingham

Pamela Church-Gibson and Tamar Jeffers-McDonald talk about the role of fashion in East Asian cinema and how the screen has influenced fashion in the region.

Date: May 3-4

Venue: Nottingham Castle

Website: http://www.gbcc.org.uk

China in Britain: No1 Film, London

This is part of the University of Westminster's China in Britain: Myths and Realities series organized by the department of English, linguistics and cultural studies.

Date: May 10

Venue: Room 451, 309 Regent Street

Website: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/home

Chinese Landscape Paintings Celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Renmin University of China, London

A collection of traditional and modern Chinese urban and landscape paintings.

Date: May 1-31, Monday to Friday, 8.30 am-6.30 pm (closed weekends)

Venue: University of Westminster, Cafe Gallery, 309 Regent Street

Events can be sent to: events@mail.chinadailyuk.com

Diplomatic Pouch: With Mike Peters

The European Union delegation in China will sponsor a series of open house events at embassies of its member states in May.

German Ambassador to China Michael Schaefer will host the opener on Monday. EU head Markus Ederer will open the doors of his delegation headquarters on May 11, and other European ambassadors will follow suit over the next three weeks. The open houses feature exhibits and activities designed to help Chinese students of all ages learn more about Europe. All require advance registration to attend.

The Spanish embassy and the Cervantes Institute in Beijing are presenting the first concert in China by Spanish rock icon Luz Casal. The concert is part of the Meet in Beijing festival and will take place on May 6 in Beijing's Poly Theater.

After Casal's performance, her China tour will proceed to Shanghai and Guangzhou. Casal's award-winning themes have been part of soundtracks used by renowned Spanish filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar and Alejandro Amenabar.

Chinese journalist Liu Wanyuan and Anderas Ljungholm, head of the Asia unit at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, were on hand last week as the Swedish government saluted the 100th anniversary of Wallenberg's birth. Wallenberg was the young Swede who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest from the Holocaust during the final stages of World War II.

The Swedish government has organized a number of activities in 2012, both in Sweden and internationally, to commemorate his deeds and the continued need for tolerance. VIP guests at last week's ceremonies in Stockholm included Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations.

Czech Ambassador to China Libor Secka hosted a preview reception last weekend at The National Art Museum of China for an exhibition by Czech poet and painter Bohuslav Reynek, who was born 120 years ago. A lifelong admirer of Chinese poetry and art, Reynek erected for himself in the 20th century what one curator calls "a spiritual space not unlike the one Chinese readers intimately know from the ancient verses of Tao Yuanming", whose poetry about returning to oneself enjoyed a favored place in Reynek's library.

Many pieces in the 120-work show reflect elements of nature, executed in strokes that will be very familiar to a Chinese audience.

The painter's grand-daughter, Veronika Reynekova, told the crowd that her grandfather would be very proud to see the Beijing show after a lifetime of admiring Chinese art and society. A banner nearby, in fact, read: "Mr Reynek, welcome to your country."

Finland will close its consulate general in Guangzhou by Aug 1, and applications for passports, visas and residence permits will not be handled there after May 31. Applications submitted before May 31 will be processed in the ordinary way during the month of June. Applications can be submitted to the embassy of Finland in Beijing. More information at www.finland.cn.

Embassy and consulate news can be sent to michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn