Romania's wines have Chinese and European guests smiling at a tasting party in Beijing. Mike Peters / China Daily

Diplomatic pouch | Mike Peters

If you can't bear to be teased about new wine that you can't drink yet, clip out this item, tuck it away in an envelope, and don't read it until early 2012. That's when a slew of Romanian vintages will finally reach retail stores in China.

"Wine makes the day easier - less stress, more tolerance," says Ion Dicu, Romania's charge' d'affaires. Dicu recently hosted a wine-tasting party at the embassy for Senator, the latest label from his country to come to Beijing to pitch its wares.

Romania is the sixth largest wine producer in Europe and the ninth largest worldwide, he says, but the country's wines are virtually unknown in China. Wholesale representatives in the ports of Tianjin and Shenzhen hope to change that - they've stockpiled thousands of bottles of Romanian wines in anticipation of next year's nationwide launch.

Vintages made by Senator feature the international wine varieties and "the pure Romanian wine varieties" both, including some that have been off the market since the late 19th-century epidemic of phylloxera destroyed most of the vineyards for wine grapes in Europe.

A new exhibition by Czech photographer Vaclav Jirasek is the latest installment of the Czech Embassy's "Embassyart" program.

The show in Beijing's 798 Art District continues through Oct 16. A formal opening on Sept 24 featured the Chinese CD Blues Jazz Band.

Jirasek makes staged portraits that use symbols to talk about the importance of the individual and his or her spiritual nature.

He works with large format cameras and makes only contact prints, so the viewing experience is intense and intimate.

Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and China recently celebrated 25 years of cooperation, with the Danish embassy's First Secretary Soren Bindesboll attending the ceremony in Beijing.

NIB operations with China started in 1985, when it offered the first loan to the Agricultural Bank of China for a rural project. Since then, more than 300 projects worth over $1 billion have been financed.

"Funds provided by the Bank has helped finance projects in very important areas such as energy efficiency, health care, rural development and education," says Denmark's Minister Counselor Soren Jacobsen. Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden founded the Nordic Investment Bank in 1976 to promote sustainable growth of the member countries by providing long-term competitiveness and improving the business environment.

Hip-hop artist will.i.am (birth name William James Adams Jr.) is teaming up with the US State Department to celebrate Sino-US educational and cultural exchanges.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with the award-winning producer, musician and vocalist of the Black Eyed Peas late last month in Washington.

Clinton highlighted the importance of educational and cultural ties between the two countries, especially US President Barack Obama's 100,000 Strong Initiative. That program aims to increase significantly the number and diversity of US students studying in China.

Will.i.am will direct a concert in Beijing later this year, an event organized by Americans Promoting Study Abroad, a US nonprofit organization that offers full scholarships to public secondary school students in the United States for language and culture studies in China.

Obama unveiled the 100,000 Strong Initiative during his visit to China in November 2009, and Clinton formally launched the campaign six months later.

The initiative is a public-private partnership to which private corporate and foundation donors have pledged more than $7 million so far. The Chinese government has offered 20,000 scholarships to US students.

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

(China Daily 10/02/2011 page5)