Diplomatic pouch

China's Huang Ming was recently presented with the 2001 Right Livelihood Honorary Award for mass production of solar energy solutions, the Swedish embassy in Beijing announced. He is one of four winners honored for contributions to solving global problems.

This is the first time a Right Livelihood Award has gone to China since the prize was instituted in 1980.

Ole von Uexkull, executive director for the Right Livelihood Foundation, said that the growing climate chaos is the greatest overriding challenge for humanity, and the key solution is to expand the use of renewable energy as rapidly as possible.

Huang established and now runs Himin Solar in Dezhou city, which is known for its huge demonstration project, Dezhou's Solar Valley. One of the largest solar city development projects in the world, it brings together developers, city planners, school directors and hospital directors in a nationwide and global example of solar power as a viable solution. Huang is also a member of the National People's Congress, helping to draft the Law on Renewable Energy and successfully pushed for its passage in 2005.

"I have a dream that one day solar industry will be as advanced as the IT industry, as mature as the electric home-appliances industry, and as large-scaled and automatic as the automobile industry," Huang said.

The Swiss embassy announced that the Bejart Ballet Lausanne will launch its China tour on Oct 15-16 in Beijing before performing in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

The ballet company features 40 dancers of 15 nationalities and has taken the choreography of Maurice Bejart all over the world for 23 years. This tour will feature the world premiere of La ou sont les oiseaux, a new work by the ballet's artistic director, Gil Roman, in collaboration with Chinese author Cheng Shenglai.

Shanghai recently presented its honorary Magnolia Silver Award to Finnish professor Yrjo Sotamaa as well as 46 other foreign citizens in a grand ceremony at the Shanghai Xijiao Guest House.

The longtime president of the University of Art and Design Helsinki (1986-2008), Sotamaa serves on the board of the Sino-Finnish Center established jointly by Finland's Aalto University and Tongji University in Shanghai. Its first phase is the Aalto-Tongji Design Factory. In 2008 Sotamaa was appointed the president of an international team that drafted the proposal for the

College of Design and Innovation to be established at Tongji University.

"The award will help to increase the

visibility of the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 project in China in 2012 and to expand the cooperation between the countries in developing innovative design that creates better life," Aalto University said in a statement.

The Magnolia Silver Award has been

presented to nearly 790 foreigners since 1989. Recipients of the Magnolia Silver Award are eligible for Magnolia Gold Awards, a ceremony that follows several weeks later.

An exhibition of large-scale paintings at the Xiamen Art Museum in Fujian province will showcase 60 years of Danish landscape painting beginning on Oct 12, the Danish embassy announced.

Embassy news can be sent to mike.peters.cd@chinadaily.com.cn