Sometimes life in Beijing for a foreigner can be both challenging and interesting. Like in my case, with my Chinese being reasonable for social contacts but pretty useless for business, it also sometimes leads to frustration.
The Chinese side (whatever that means) insisted I joined some big Taiwan seminar and banquet in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, most probably the most prestigious location of the city, food being normally better than in The Great Hall of The People.
I managed to escape from the seminar, luckily, as everything was in Chinese without translation. On top of that all the speakers (idem in the Banquet) were shouting like hell, making it also rather annoying. My daughter was getting tired of the noise in the banquet.

So, what was it actually all about? I still have no clue. My entourage just tells stuff me on a need-to-know basis. No extras.
The seminar was in one building and the banquet in another one. Nice walk.
During the banquet I also escaped by not having to sit at the VIP table. There was just one more foreigner in the whole hall and he was sitting pretty lonely on that long VIP table. Nobody seemed interested in him.
I got however a lot of attention as many of our Chinese friends were there and many other came to take picture with me. So, smile, give business card, say cheers and then next one. Who they were, mostly again clueless.
Oh well that is part of Beijing life. A must to stay connected to the “important people”.
The food was good, the red wine was pretty good and some of the performances were nice.
The gardens of Diaoyutai are meticulously maintained and are lovely, and we were so lucky with the weather.. Once I was there for a night party and it was really pretty with all the lights on the trees.