The day of Riverdance's opening performance in Beijing dawned in disappointment: the performers arrived in the capital but their stage sets, electronics, costumes and signature dance shoes - the big-heeled ones that make mighty sounds of joy - were snowbound in Shandong province.

The Dec 30 performance was postponed for two days, but the Irish embassy and the dance troupe combined diplomatic and artistic muscle to save the day. Ambassador Declan Kelleher, visiting Irish Culture Minister Jimmy Deenihan and international Irish law firm A&L Goodbody hosted an "Irish Night" reception at the theater for about 200 guests, which included an impromptu performance by the iconic dancers, who were just starting a 26-city China tour. After a "world premier" version of Reel of the Sun performed with the Chinese band Tai Hua Tian Shi, the "Riverdance Unplugged" show went to the audience, as guests were invited up to learn a few fancy dance moves. The dance leader Padraic Moyles coached from the stage as other cast members partnered with lawyers and business folk in the crowd. Within the hour, "I danced with Riverdance!" posts were streaming across Sina Weibo.

Earlier in the weekend, Kelleher and his wife, Sigrun, hosted 25 young Chinese lawyers who recently returned from a six-month exchange program with Irish law firms.

Greece's Ambassador, Theodore Georgakelos, recently appeared on CCTV's Breakfast with Ambassadors, talking up tourism and other investment opportunities for Chinese businesses, including renewable energy and other infrastructure programs in Greece. "There are, I am sure, many investment opportunities for Chinese businesses," he said. "COSCO came to Greece, which is very profitable, and I think this would be a model for other Chinese companies who will decide to come to invest in Greece."

The Dutch deputy head of mission in Beijing, Andre Driessen, recently spoke at the annual gathering of the Netherlands Alumni Network China, urging Dutch and Chinese members returning from academic studies in his country to consider themselves "Holland Brand Ambassadors".

Vuk Jeremi, president of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly and former foreign minister of Serbia, visited China from Dec 26 to 28 at the invitation of China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi. His visit included a meeting with the new general secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping.

For the second year, the embassy of Portugal worked with Ecoprogresso to calculate its annual carbon footprint and offset that by buying credits from a wind-farm project in Fujian. The embassy said its emissions for 2012 totaled 48 metric tons of CO2, a decrease of about 4 percent from the previous year. The increased efficiency was credited to a more efficient lighting system and heightened awareness of energy use by employees.

The swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt took questions on the Chinese micro blog Sina Weibo for an hour during his visit to Beijing last month, answering 49 of the 222 questions submitted. He addressed topics including visas, studies and work in Sweden, the new Chinese leadership, the Nobel prize, corruption, integration politics. Bildt was in the Chinese capital to meet China's Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun as well as Chinese and international economists.

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

(China Daily 01/04/2013 page31)