Diplomatic Pouch

Diplomatic Pouch | Mike Peters

Gustavo A. Martino, ambassador of Argentina, hoists the trophy cup with the winning Tang Polo Club team last week.

The host team of the Tang Polo Club in suburban Beijing took the honors last weekend at the annual Argentine Polo Cup 2013. Argentine Ambassador Gustavo A. Martino was joined by two fellow ambassadors from the region, Chile's Luis Schmidt and Uruguay's Rosario Portell, in handing out awards at the end of the day.

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Some newly arrived diplomats have been seen walking the capital's streets on Saturday mornings with furrowed brows and even talking to themselves. But there is no crisis brewing: They are simply signed up for the weekend Mandarin classes that the Confucius Institute offers to embassy personnel. Diplomats just now arriving can still sign up for the fall classes, offered at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, by contacting Tao Juan (taojuan@hanban.org) for details.

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The embassy of Finland hosted a reception on Monday for visiting Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, who was en route to the Davos meeting in Dalian.

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The 5th Wushu African Championship kicked off at Antananarivo, Madagascar, last week, with a kung-fun show featuring monks from Shaolin temple. The event was attended by Andry Rajoelina, the president of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar; Bashir Elardawi, the president of African Wushu Federation; Yang Min, the Chinese ambassador to Madagascar, the Chinese community in Madagascar and Malagasy people. The best competitors will participate in the 12th World Wushu Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October. Twelve countries, including China, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Egypt, France, Libya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia participated to the four-day event.

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The embassy of Colombia, a nation famous for its fine coffee, recently hosted a "Colombia Coffee Happy Hour". Invited guests sampled a premium coffee and got to watch the final round of the Latte Art Competition organized organized jointly with National Geographic Traveler and the Colombian National Coffee Growers Federation. Beijing barista Ji Fangwei (pictured), 25, produced the winning foam design.

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In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech, the US consulate-general's public affairs section in Shanghai invited student reporters from local Shanghai high schools to participate in a speech contest late last month.

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Brazil's Minister of Culture Marta Suplicy was in Beijing last week to meet her Chinese counterpart, Cai Wu, and to follow some activities of the "Month of Brazil" in China both here and in Shanghai. Brazilian Ambassador Valdemar Carneiro Leao and his wife, Anna, hosted a reception to celebrated the country's national day on Thursday, and the embassy joined several other sponsors to bring three Brazilian masters of capoeira, the country's rhythmic mix of dance and martial arts, to the capital last weekend. A Brazilian film series continues this week at the Latin American and Caribbean Center in Beijing's Sanlitin SOHO.

VIDEO:

See highlights of the capoeira performance "Brazil Passion" at:

http://video.chinadaily.com.cn/2013/0909/1203.shtml