My friends told me it would be a difficult date to attract people. They were wrong! Despite five “no-show” we were 25! I ask the people who registered to send a message if they can’t make it at the last minute, otherwise it is difficult to organize the tables.

Our newcomer Olivier came to talk a bit with the French-speaking guests about “Chine-Francophonie”, see http://www.chinefrancophonie.com/
As always we had a pretty varied list of nationalities.
The following lunch will be on Friday 6 February 2015.
Thanks to Olivier for his pics, for once you can see me!

I refer to earlier postings.
Well, things are getting clearer.
In December, many Beijing expats turned on their cellphones to find grim rumors buzzing on social media platform WeChat – foreigners, it seemed, were the victims of a series of attacks. The details in the rumors varied – sometimes it was Sanlitun, other times Wudaokou. Were the perpetrators driving a BMW or a van? Were they armed with baseball bats or metal rods?
The gang alleged to have been targeting foreigners with baseball has been caught. Police are now appealing for witnesses, details:
http://beijingcream.com/2015/01/arrested-local-gang-alleged-to-have-targeted-foreigners-with-bats/
and also a wider overview:
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2015/01/group-accused-of-attacking-foreigners-arrested/

In short:
A trio of Chinese men armed with baseball bats and metal pipes has been detained, following a violent assault on students at one of Beijing’s best-known universities. The case bears strong similarities to a series of racially tinged assaults alleged to have recently occurred in several foreign-centric districts, including Sanlitun, Houhai and Wudaokou, in which foreign witnesses reported being attacked without provocation by local men carrying weapons and traveling in a vehicle. The incidents were widely reported on WeChat and discussed on local forums, such as Reddit, where many expressed concern about possible hate crimes.

Part 2 covers September to December 2014.

[Show as slideshow]

123►

See previous post for the explanations.
See the name of the picture to find the date it was taken.

My birthday follows a rather standard program: in the day I disappear to reflect on the year, calendar year and one more year of my life (by now, too many of them).
In the evening of 31 December we all head to our favorite restaurant, Morel’s. The best Belgian food you can find.
This time we joined Willem and his wife, one of my Dutch palls (we often meet on Friday evenings).

There was of course the enormous menu – Valerie went for it but she shared generously. I went for the delicious steak, Sun went for the Belgian endive dish (we all think it is the best dish of the restaurant). And we couldn’t miss a waffle.
Besides that, we emptied a number of bottles and had good fun.
Thanks to Renaat and Susan for one more great evening.