Beijing's recent smoggy weather is very annoying even aside from air pollution worries. Yesterday, the performance of French aerobatics team Patrouille de France had to be cancelledbecause of bad visibility. This performance was supposed to be a highlight of the events celebrating 40 years of diplomatic relationships between China and France. The smog really made the French pilots gloomy (as the pictured Beijing Daily Messenger front page shows). More than 50 thousand expectant Chinese audience members were disappointed.

Despite the cancellation, of the Patrouille de France show, features and reports on the Sino-French relationship still covered most media in Beijing, with headlines like:

French President Jacques Chirac to visit China
(One of most common headlines of today's newspapers.)

Aside from the reports, today's papers also contained promotional advertorials about France. Today's China Daily published a supplement covering the history of Sino-French relations, French culture and business. Meanwhile, Sanlian Life Week magazine has a special report on '20 Fashionable French Icons'.

This year also happens to be the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and Norway, but there is hardly any coverage of Norway in the media except for reports about Secret Garden, the New Age / Celtic band currently touring China.