Belgium in China

Ambassador’s Kitchen in Beijing 1

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Ambassador’s Kitchen is a top-ranked program

In Ambassador’s Kitchen in Beijing 1, an introduction to the program, the actors and how Belgium cuisine was in the focus.
Mango TV (芒果TV) is a Chinese media company controlled by state-owned Hunan Broadcasting System. Mango TV specializes in creating online videos and is an online platform providing content that is presented in TV channels from Hunan Broadcasting System and Hunan Satellite TV. Its current headquarters is located in Changsha, Hunan. Mango TV provides audience with diverse content including films, TV series, music, cartoons and entertainment.

The program was featured in this China Daily article dated 29 December 2022:
Ambassador’s Kitchen, a TV program aiming to embark on an “exotic” journey through mouth-watering foods, recently began shooting in Beijing.
The show features four celebrity hosts: actors Li Chen; Wu Chun; Laurinda Ho, the daughter of late Casino King Stanley Ho; and singer Liu Wei, as well as two guest stars, actress Sun Yi and singer Liu Wei. They will take Chinese and foreign cuisine as a “bridge” to exchange cultures.
Before the launch ceremony held in Sanlitun area in Chaoyang district, the six celebrities were divided into two teams and sent to the embassies of Argentina, New Zealand, Turkey and Thailand in Beijing, to shoot some footage.
Propelled by the stardom, the show’s hashtags have generated around 36 million “clicks” and drawn 119,000 netizens to discuss the related topics on Sina Weibo, an indicator for popularity in the showbiz industry.
Coproduced by Global Times Online and Beijing WiaoE Technology Co Ltd, the TV show was aired on Jiangsu Satellite TV, CCTV and Mango TV.

See other article:
“The ‘Ambassador’s Kitchen’ program warmly launched the re-enactment of exotic cuisine to integrate hospitality”

Belgium in the spotlight

There were several shootings done, in Morel’s Restaurant, in the residence of the Belgian ambassador and a “chef’s competition” in the building of Mango TV next to Taikooli North in Sanlitun.
Some of the stars who joined were:
Ms. He Chaolian, the youngest daughter of Stanley Ho (Laurinda Ho). When Chao Lian was born, the gambling king Stanley Ho was 70 years old.
Li Chen is a Chinese actor and director born in Beijing, known as a Superstar. He is known for being a member of the variety show “Keep Running!” since Season 1. Born on November 24, 1978. Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing shocked millions of fans when she revealed that she is breaking off her engagement with fiancé Li Chen. However, the story is not yet concluded…
All of them were very relaxed and friendly. Chaolian impressed us as she was not only pretty but friendly and a good cook.
Our Belgian ambassador H.E. Jan Hoogmartens joined most of the shooting, with an impressive cool and patience!

Morel’s Restaurant becomes a studio

On 20 December 2022 the massive crew of Mango TV transformed the restaurant in a studio with ceiling, outside and inside lighting. I don’t know the exact number but I guess over 15 camera were filming… Very impressive and so professional.

In this first post see some of the pictures taken in the restaurant and screenshots of the program. The staff was super excited to take a picture with the Superstar!
More to come in other posts.

Belgium Day in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Ambassador’s residence

Very often Belgium Day in Beijing on 21 July is not celebrated as it is in the middle of summer and many people are away. Mostly 15 November, Kings Day, replaces the real national day.

Our Ambassador Jan Hoogmartens this year opened his residence for a very nice celebration, well attended by the hardcore Belgians in Beijing, on 21 July.

It was a wonderful and relaxed evening.
The residence is behind the construction of the new embassy, design by our Belgian architect Nicolas Godelet (NG-Lab).

Buffet by Morel’s

To the satisfaction of all Renaat Morel spoiled us all with his buffet. I was happy to lend a hand, fully dressed in my chef’s attire with Belgian colors. I think it’s fun to help! Big success for the lasagna, Belgian fries and all the other goodies. People also tried the Belgian Natural Artisan Ice Cream.
The ambassador kindly sponsored the whole evening, the food and the drinks. Thank you!

VIW hosted 3 Flemish China Old Hands

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

VIW

In the evening of 28 September 2021 VIW hosted 3 Flemish China Old Hands in the Belgian Embassy of Beijing.VIW – “Vlaanderen in the Wereld”, see https://www.viw.be/en.

I am not sure but I think I am member of VIW since the early eighties. We now have a dynamic representative in Beijing, Tina, who organised the succesful event in collaboration with the Belgian Embassy. Thanks Tina, thanks to our embassy!

Gilbert, one of the speakers

I found it a challenge to give an overview of my 40 years of China in less than 20 minutes… (I think I talked for about 22 minutes). I had a valuable help from Tina’s son who was the “clicker”. I also brought “3 exhibits”.

I never did a similar presentation but my talk was a bit like the following talk I gave:

“In the evening of 29 May 2018 Gilbert spoke for the Rotaract Club of Beijing West, in a lecture hall gently provided by Beijing University. The audience of 45 young people listened to the story of two major projects Gilbert was involved in, to understand how the Chinese administration works and how one can succeed in “Mission Impossible” through perseverance, innovation and continuous learning. One project explained how subway building resumed in China in 1998 through his success in getting Shanghai Line 3 approved by the central government. The other case explains how Gilbert received the challenge to look for funding for the 2008 Olympics, to build the major venues, and how the contracts were awarded.
The two projects are part of his seminars on how to do successful lobbying in China.”
(I still need to write a post about it… see the picture)

The other speakers

Johan from the embassy welcomed us all and Tina hosted the rest of the meeting. Snacks were sponsored by TRB and beers by Duvel Moortgat.

Two other seasoned expats with an impressive career presented their story:
Pol Castermans, Sales Director, North China at Duvel Moortgat – Beijing, China
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pol-castermans-a435a146/
and
Kris Van Goethem, Managing Director MICE, LEISURE & SPORT at Thomas Cook – Shanghai, China
https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisvangoethem/

Ghent University alumnae in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Large turnout

On 17 September 2021 Ghent University alumnae in Beijing were invited for a celebration in the residence of our Belgian ambassador H.E. Jan Hoogmartens.
I am from Ghent, Belgium where I graduated with a master’s degree in electronic engineering in “UGent” in 1973. See the building I attended nearly every day for my engineering, in the Jozef Plateaustraat in Ghent.
And no, I was not the oldest student: a Chinese gentleman (former Tsinghua Arts Department) was the star of the lunch with his 91 years!
I was impressed with the large turnout, I still remember our modest dinner with Inge Mangelschots in 2017, Alumnae and the regional representatives from all over China attended Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou), we were a grand total far over 60 guests.
Indeed in the period 1977-2021 3,399 Chinese students chose UGent! In the year 2019-2020 there were 660 Chinese studying in Ghent.

The occasion was to celebrate 50 Years of Diplomatic Relations Belgium-China and 15 years of the China Platform of Ghent University.
See also the website: https://www.ugentinfinitum.be/
Yes I am registered there!

Sadly with COVID-19 none of the Ghent University staff could join but we had video messages also from the Dean.

Hmmm lunch buffet

All happy to enjoy the buffet of Renaat Morel, plenty to eat, as well as Belgian beer and more was available.

 

Looking at the pictures you might get hungry!
Thanks to our ambassador for his hospitality!

Belgium’s First Fingerprint e-ID abroad

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Gilbert as a test case

On 31 May 2021 I took part in the Belgium’s First Fingerprint e-ID abroad, in our Belgian Embassy in Beijing. With the time zones Beijing was a favorite location to try the new administrative procedure when it was launched worldwide, as the first in line. As I understand, not that simple as the data of the scans – picture, fingerprints, signature – must be uploaded to the system in Brussels and the whole process was not tested before.
See the official post:
Belgium’s First Fingerprint e-ID Abroad!
31 May 2021
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nScXc-jJAVJ4n3SBAzS8uw

If you have trouble opening the link, see here the PDF version: 210531 firstIDcard
I was gladly the test case. Overall it went very well, it was fun. The only hassle is to make the electronic signature, the machine is a nightmare as you don’t see what you are doing. I had to repeat more than a dozen times and settle for the less bad result.

See how the old ID card looked like, and the fingerprint process.
Next step is waiting for the new ID to arrive and to activate here the chip. In the past it could not be done in the embassy and I had to do it in Belgium during a visit.

My eID reader

My eID reader

I use the eID with this eID reader to have access to the retirement website in Brussels.

A European mess

There is still no European standard to have secure access to government or banking websites, accepted and used by the member states.
For ING Belgium I use a ING card reader. Every country has its own system, in Belgium it is called CSAM. In Belgium there are other options such as itsme.be.
CSAM: https://www.csam.be/en/egov-profile.html
About itsme: https://www.itsme.be/en/partners

“itsme” was approved in Belgium in January 2018 and the button itsme is visible on CSAM. ING Belgium also allows itsme. In December 2019 itsme was approved by the EU. However France imposes France Connect registration that cannot be used by people like me and does not follow EU standards. A real headache. It does not follow “eIDAS”.
eIDAS oversees electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Union’s internal market. It regulates electronic signatures, electronic transactions, involved bodies, and their embedding processes to provide a safe way for users to conduct business online like electronic funds transfer or transactions with public services.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIDAS.