US Election Night was Wednesday morning in China and anticipation swept a hotel ballroom bedecked in red, white and blue balloons at Beijing's Marriott Northeast.

"This is an interesting gathering," US Ambassador to China Gary Locke told the crowd of students and teachers from around China that were invited by the embassy. "It's a gathering that is being duplicated at hotels, churches and individual homes all across America, with Democrats and Republicans sitting side by side waiting to see how this is going to turn out."

Locke said that was true of his own family in the US, where half of his extended family was pulling for President Barack Obama and the other half for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

If the ambassador was concerned that his own job was on the line as well as Obama's, it didn't show. Locke and Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, gave the audience a short lecture on how the US election works and which states were important to watch. Students were invited to vote in a mock election.

At a Brazilian embassy soiree on Monday hosted by the country's ambassador, Clodoaldo Hugueney, for the writer Cristovao Tezza, a lot of the talk over canapes was about a couple of colorful events that are taking place this month.

First up is Illustra Brazil, a beautiful and insightful illustration exhibition made for China by 100 of the country's important artists. Covering diverse themes, it will be held at the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art in the 798 Art Zone, from Nov 14 to 18.

Second, is the third Brapeq Brazil Film Fest of eight short movies from Nov 15 to 20 at Broadway Cinematheque MOMA. The films will also be shown at The Grand Theater in Shanghai from Nov 22 to 25.

The Polish embassy brought a bonanza of music, art and fine food to Beijing last week as Ambassador Tadeuz Chomicki and his wife, Susan Kim-Chomicka, launched the 2012 Polish Culture Festival. The fun began last Friday with a symphonic concert featuring Chinese pianist Chen Sa - an award winner for her past interpretations of Chopin - and the China National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Poland's celebrated maestro Krzysztof Penderecki at Beijing Concert Hall. The festival also includes art exhibitions, a second symphony concert and Polish Cuisine Night, an independence-day reception with a massive dinner buffet presented by Krakow chef Krzysztof Zurek and Warsaw's Konrad Korszla.

The embassy of Pakistan in Beijing has published The Call of the Trumpet, an anthology of early 20th-century Chinese poetry translated into English by the late Ahmed Ali, Pakistan's first envoy to the People's Republic of China.

A scholar, a writer, a poet, a diplomat par excellence and an art collector of exquisite taste, Ali was tasked with opening Pakistan's embassy in Beijing in 1951.

Ali's association with China began when he was a visiting professor of English for the British Council at Nanjing Central University in 1946.

Ove Karl Berthelsen, Greenland's minister for industry and mineral resources wrapped up a weeklong visit last week hosted by the Danish embassy to China. Timed to coincide with a major mining industry expo in China, the visit also gave the minister a chance to showcase Greenland's travel opportunities - including the UNESCO World Heritage site at Ilulissat Ice Fjord - as well as the territory's food and fashion during stops in Beijing and Shanghai.

Jules Quartly contributed to this report.

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

(China Daily 11/11/2012 page5)