The Swiss embassy and Alliance Francaises are hosting a series of exhibitions by Plonk & Replonk, a collective of artists from the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds famous for their ironic-poetic vision of their homeland.

Hubert Froidevaux of Plonk and two members of his team are in Beijing on Friday (March 30) to host a pre-show lecture at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts. Over the next week, two different capital shows open at the Cross Gallery and Alliance Francais. Concurrent exhibitions opened in Guangzhou and Nanjing last week, and more shows open from now through December in Xi'an, Qingdao, Dalian, Hong Kong and Tianjin.

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Seventeen reporters from 15 media attended the first media workshop last week held by EU-China Environmental Governance Program in Beijing's Peanuts Cafe. The workshop aims to build a long-term consulting and resource relationship with the two parties. The goal is to boost environmental governance in China through stronger agencies, public access to information, public participation and corporate responsibility in the environmental field.

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Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen, also one of Beijing's best-known ambassadors of cycling and green transportation, is putting his favorite bike up for auction to benefit Chinese biking NGOs and charity.

The bike is a sleek black Specialized S-Works. It weighs only 5 kilograms and the model is used by some of the best cycling teams in the Tour de France. Petersen himself rode the bike in a 500-km Climate Race from New York City to Washington back in 2009, when he was Denmark's envoy to the US, to draw attention to the world's climate problems.

The auction ends Tuesday at 2 pm. To make an offer, send an e-mail to bjsambclimaterace@um.dk with your name and mobile phone number.

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Philippe Vialatte, science counselor at the EU delegation, took part in a joint EU-China workshop on transport in aeronautics ahead of the joint Greener Aeronautics International Network project meeting in Beijing last week. For the EU and China, the EU delegation said in a statement, aeronautics is on the front lines of international cooperation, in part because aviation is booming in China. The need for greener technologies opens the way to develop more sophisticated manufacturing, resulting in products that are not only better for society, but more competitive globally.

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More than 100 participants and high officials from the Chinese Ministry of Environment Protection, the EU delegation in China, the embassies of Austria and the Netherlands and project partners were on hand last week for the kick-off of a waste-tracking system aimed at more efficient production and recycling of electronic products.

The EU noted that improper disposal of such products can be severely damaging to the environment, and that many materials in electronic rubbish are valuable. For example, the content of gold in mobile phones is around 350 grams per metric ton - 70 times higher than in ores for gold production.

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Several top diplomats in the capital joined a VIP crowd last week to preview a new exhibition of recent work by Mexican abstract artist Manuel Felguerez. A member of the "Rupture generation", Felguerez brought 34 recent works including paintings, sculptures and graphic pieces to the Museum of the Central Academy of Fines Arts at the invitation of Mexican ambassador Jorge Guajardo. The show, which runs through April 19, is part of Mexico's celebration of 40 years of diplomatic relations with China.

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

Mexican abstract master artist Manuel Felguerez (left) is introduced by Ambassador Jorge Guajardo last week. [Mike Peters / China Daily]