Visit to Beijing Sinofile Information Services (www.sinofile.net)
Finally Grant Jacobson, director of communications for Sinofile succeeded in kidnapping me to his office, located in a 100 years old church, now a protected historical building, where the information company accommodates its staff of around 100 monks and piles of newspapers, computer equipment, one dog and one cat. Well, not real monks but they are doing a monk’s job: reading hundreds of websites, newspapers and keeping a digital eye on more than a dozen of TV stations. All looking for interesting information in the media to pass on to their clients. One client is the American Chamber in Beijing, through whom I receive a daily newsfile. Cool.

The church building is remarkable, especially the wooden roof structure – on the inside (the astonishing wooden beams) as well as on the outside (the bell towers look like Chinese pavilions).
The interior designer had to be creative because nothing could be damaged – sorry, no nails in the wooden beams.

Grant insisted is removing the wooden floor to show the “bath” where the baptism ceremony was held (sorry Grant, how do you call that properly?). Grant then tried to wash away my many sins but he run out of water.
The building is actually the “Cathedral of the Savior”, at Nangouyan (close to the Xuanwumen subway station). In 1907 the Anglican Bishop of North China designed, built and consecrated the church. After 1950 the church served as a warehouse. Restoration began in 1996.