beijing

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Initiative seeks to strengthen ties between women’s groups and female MPs and to promote their presence in politics

The Children’s Choir of Montserrat is participating in a tour of China between 23 February and 10 March. Montserrat is home to one of the oldest boys’ choirs in Europe, dating back to 1223. Concerts will take place in China’s largest auditoriums in Beijing and Shanghai. Around the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the music school at Montserrat really began to grow in importance and recognition at international level and nowadays it is one of the world’s most important children’s choirs. The concert programme will be directed by Lawrence Castellon and include Catalan folk songs and some Chinese folk songs. The Chinese cultural manager invited the Choir of Montserrat following their success in the United States.

This year, Barcelona will be the focus of the Beijing Design Week (BJDW), to be held between the 26^th of September and the 3^rd of October in the Chinese Capital. The international exhibition will dedicate 8 spaces to Barcelona, the biggest being 79 Tank, a 3,500 square metre pavilion housed in an old gas tank. The BJDW will devote a total of 5 exhibitions, 17 conferences and more than 20 activities to the design made in Barcelona. In addition, alternative design will also be present during this week-long event that brings together the capitals of China and Catalonia: 3 small projects will to take place in District Dashilar, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Beijing. The BJDW event that last year attracted 5 million people, previous invites have included London (2011), Milan (2012) and Amsterdam (2013), making Barcelona the 4^th largest city to be chosen.

The city of Barcelona will be the Guest of Honour at the 2014 Beijing Design Week (BJDW). This festival is one of the biggest cultural events in China and will be attended by three and a half millon visitors from all over the world. The news was announced on Thursday by Mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias, Minister for Culture Ferran Mascarell and Director of the Ramon Llull Institute for Catalan Culture Àlex Susanna. The event is dedicated to Design, Architecture, Urbanism, and Contemporary Creation. Susanna insisted it was the most significant cultural project since Catalonia’s invitation to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2007.

FCB Escola unveiled its new Campus in the Beijing Olympic Center. The two-week camp, FCB Escola’s first in China, will serve to bring Barça’s values and training methodology to aspiring Chinese footballers.