1,400 turn up at Swedish National Day bash in Beijing

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Photo: Liu Ping

The annual celebration of the Swedish National Day at the Embassy in Beijing came close to being drenched in heavy rain. But the weather cleared up towards the evening and close to 1400 guests attended the festivities.

For the fourth year in a row, the Embassy of Sweden celebrated the Swedish National Day on 6 June at the Embassy compound in Beijing. As previous years a great variety of guests from the Swedish, the Chinese and the international community attended; adults as well as children.

As heavy rain kept on pouring down during the afternoon, it looked, even as the gates opened at 17.00, that this year’s celebrations would indeed be a wet one. But as Ambassador Fredén delivered his welcome speech an hour later, the rain gave way to sunshine.

Close to 1400 guests attended; much the same amount as previous year. China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Wang Chao, also attended the festivities.

Famous Swedish pianist Mr. Robert Wells answered for the entertainment. With his band Robert Wells Trio & Vocalettes he put on a quite a show, lasting more than an hour, to the audience great satisfaction.

Teachers and students from the Swedish School in Beijing took the lead in dancing around the Midsummer meadow; a fishing pond with Swedish candy was popular among the children.

The National Day celebration was made possible thanks to the Scandinavian companies who generously sponsored the event; many who were present with stations and staff during the evening.

On display was also a mini-exhibition on the Embassy’s CSR-center (Corporate Social Responsibility), as well as the Embassy’s new online map project, The Sweden in China Map, aimed at mapping out the Swedish presence in China.

During the evening the guests were able to enjoy Swedish inspired food, drinks and music.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in China

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