Conferences & Meetings \>\> In China

China Brew and Beverage Technology Innovation Congress, Shanghai

Focuses on trends in the global brewing and beverage industry, analyzes safety regulations and discusses core technologies and best solutions for cleaner production, energy saving, emissions reduction and product diversification.

Date: Jan 17-18

Venue: Crowne Plaza Century Park Shanghai

Website: www.chinaexhibition.com

China International Fishing Tackle Trade Exhibition, Beijing

An international tackle trade show dedicated to globalizing the trade of fishing products and outdoor gear.

Date: Feb 23-25

Venue: New China International Exhibition Center

Website: www.chinaexhibition.com

Pharma Regulatory Summit Asia 2013, Beijing

For the first time in China, IBC brings together a high-caliber regional and international regulatory panel providing critical advice and regulatory updates for domestic and international regulatory professionals.

Date: Mar 6-8

Venue: The Westin Beijing Chaoyang, Beijing

Website: www.pharmaregulatoryasia.com

China International Digital Printers & Engravers & Signage & LED Expo 2011, Guangzhou

With more than 50,000 detailed databases from domestic and overseas professional buyers, the expo is an authoritative industry event, backed by www.dpes.cn, aimed at providing exhibitors with value-added services, before, during and after the show, as well as helping them develop market share and improve performance. The expo is a communication platform and commodity display stage for the sign equipment industry.

Date: Feb 25-28

Venue: Poly World Trade Center Expo, Guangzhou

Website: www.chinasignexpo.com

Conferences & Meetings \>\> In the US

Forecast 2013, Washington, DC

Join the US-China Business Council for the best half day you'll spend getting a comprehensive projection of the China business and political environment in the year ahead. This event is open to business executives from USCBC member and prospective member companies.

Date: Jan 31

Venue: The Ritz-Carlton, 22nd Street, NW Washington, DC

Website: www.uschina.org

The 30th Annual Houston Auto Show, Houston

The Houston Auto Show is turning 30 this year and will be celebrating with the largest show ever. The show will occupy the entire Reliant Center and feature more than 700,000 square feet of the latest vehicles from the world's top manufacturers. For the first time, the show will feature an indoor Ride & Drive lounge, to accompany the ever popular outdoor Ride & Drive. The high-end luxury vehicle boutique will return for its second year.

Date: Jan 23-27

Venue: The Reliant Center, 1 Reliant Park, Houston, Texas

Website: www.eventsetter.com

Culture \>\> In China

Things From The Gallery Warehouse 5 Group Exhibition, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai

ShanghART presents Things From The Gallery Warehouse 5 as part of a continuing program. Since 2009, a series of exhibitions have made it possible for large-scale installations to be viewed by the general public.

Date: Jan 20-Mar 4

Venue: ShanghART H-space, Bldg 18, No.50 Moganshan Rd., Shanghai

Website: www.shanghartgallery.com

National Theatre of China Big Family Classics in NCPA, Beijing

Big Family is us a legendary story about gratitude and resentment, life and death, and love and hatred presented through an impressive and thought-provoking mixture of history and reality.

Date: Jan 17-Feb 3

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Website: www.chncpa.org

Chinese National Orchestra Concert, Beijing

2013 New Year's Blessing.

Date: Jan 25

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Website: www.chncpa.org

Culture \>\> In the US

Bernard Schwartz Book Award Luncheon, New York

Honoring Water: Asia's New Battleground, by Brahma Chellaney, which was named winner of the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award for its outstanding contribution to advancing the understanding of contemporary Asia. In his timely and insightful book, Chellaney describes water stress as Asia's defining crisis of the 21st century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor.

Date: Jan 23

Venue: 725 Park Ave, at East 70th Street, New York

Website: asiasociety.org

Alt.Comics, New York

Alt.Comics brings the topic of Marvels & Monsters into the present, showcasing the efforts of Asian-American artists to establish a new and authentic identity by subverting stereotypes and juxtaposing disparate images. The exhibition focuses on alternative and independent comic spaces, particularly in the hubs of San Francisco and New York, which produced many of the most prominent artists in the independent scene. The exhibition also includes excerpts from Secret Identities Volume 2: Shattered.

Date: Jan 26

Venue: Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), 211 Centre St, New York

Website: www.mocanyc.org

Diplomatic pouch

The US consul general in Shenyang, Sean B. Stein, trekked north to the frigid city of Harbin last week to join in the kick-off for the annual Ice and Snow Festival there. The month-long display of frozen sculptures is one of the biggest in the world, featuring carved-ice replicas of The Forbidden City and other icons which are large enough to walk around in and are spectacularly lit up at night. The diplomat and his staff found themselves in a star-studded crowd: video game superstars Angry Birds and Santa Claus (from Harbin's sister city Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland) were also part of the opening ceremony.

On January 3, Minister Yang Zigang of the Chinese embassy in Washington paid a farewell call on Janice L. Jacobs, assistant secretary of the Department of State for Consular Affairs. Yang thanked Jacobs and the Bureau of Consular Affairs for their support during his tenure. He said he was pleased to see growing people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.

Jacobs spoke highly of the progress in US-China consular relations in recent years and commended the Chinese minister's efforts in this regard. She wished Yang greater success in his new post and further advancement of US-China consular relations.

The Sum of Many Parts: 25 Quiltmakers from 21st-Century America opened this week at the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Conceived and sponsored by the US embassy in Beijing, the show was recently at the Yunnan Nationalities Museum in Kunming, China, where it was viewed by approximately 30,000 people over a five-week period. During that time, the Chengdu consulate created a series of five blog posts explaining the background of the quilting tradition, the tools used, the process of piecing, borders and batting, and the finishing steps.

"The focus of this exhibition provides a unique metaphor for our connected world," said Gary Locke, the US ambassador to China.

Chinese consulates in the US are urging followers of their websites to participate in The Institute of People's Daily Online's survey on foreign users' attitudes to China's English news websites. The main purpose of the research is to improve China's English online news services.

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

(China Daily 01/11/2013 page23)