More than 700 people gathered last weekend to celebrate community and friendship at the second annual Hockey Night in Beijing. Finland's Ambassador to China, Lars Backstrom, and his Canadian counterpart, Guy Saint-Jacques, squared off for the ceremonial face-off and puck drop as expatriates from their home countries met for a rematch of last year's game.

Twenty percent of ticket revenue was donated to the Shepherd's Field Children's Village, an organization that provides shelter and care for Chinese orphans with special needs.

Curtis Dracz was named Most Valuable Player for the Canadians, who won 4-1, while Marko Jokela of Team Finland won MVP honors for his squad. "The intensity brought everyone to their feet, and there were times they were so loud that we couldn't even hear the referee whistle," Dracz said. Primary sponsors of the event were Nokia and the Canadian International School of Beijing.

The European Commission's director-general responsible for transport policies, Matthias Ruete, visited Beijing on May 16 and 17 to improve existing policy cooperation between the EU and China. Ruete attended the China Civil Aviation Development Forum, where he held discussions with the leaders of the Civil Aviation Authority of China, and with the other International Civil Aviation Organization members. He also met the vice-ministers of the National Development and Reform Commission and of the Ministry of Transport, and the newly appointed leadership of China Railway Corporation. Ruete ended his mission "on a joyous note", making a speech to more than 200 students at Beijing Jiaotong University.

Open-house events for young Chinese at embassies of EU member states included events at the Austrian, German, Spanish and Irish embassies in the past week, while Malta and Denmark open their doors in the week ahead, the series ending around mid-June. A list of all the activities is available on the EU delegation website (www.eu-in-china.com) and on weibo at www.weibo.com/euinchina; all events require advance registration/invitation online.

At the Austrian embassy, classical violinist Lidia Baich hosted a master class for students between the ages of 8 and 14 and played a 250-year-old violin valued at 1.5 million euros.

German Ambassador Michael Schaefer invited 120 Chinese university students and weibo fans of the embassy's micro blogs for a general introduction of the embassy's work, a musical performance, some traditional German food and a lucky draw.

Slovak Ambassador Frantisek Dlhopolcek last week hosted an exhibition of Na ve Art from Kovacica presented by painters Jan Glozik and Janos Mesaros at the embassy.

UK Minister for Government Policy Oliver Letwin is in China for a week this month to launch new premium visa services for Chinese business and tourists -- available to many business customers in Beijing and Shanghai and in other cities later.

A VIP mobile service will offer high-value business customers the option of UK visa officers collecting their biometric data and visa applications at their place of work. Passport Pass-Back service allows customers to retain their passport -- and travel or apply for another visa -- while their UK visa is being processed.

The priority visa service has also been extended to 11 out of the 12 UK visa application centers.

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

(China Daily 05/17/2013 page31)