Well, you don't really need a reason to party in Beijing. But the excuse this past Friday night was to celebrate our friend Wendy (a Chinese national) getting a visa to visit her boyfriend's family in Germany. We were told that it's a big deal so it's a reason to celebrate. It took her two tries and a letter from her boyfriend's father to the Chamber of Commerce to get it approved - and she's just going for a 2-week visit!

Other activities this weekend included checking out an art gallery that's inside the well-preserved south-eastern corner tower (Dong-bian men watchtower) of the former Imperial city wall (bits and pieces of the wall still exist). We would have thought that it's a tourist spot but we were the ONLY people there! It was quite nice, so was the art. We tried to imagine what the view from this tower was like - probably clear views of the Forbidden city, Temple of Heaven and no tall buildings.