AT last Beijing appears to be taking positive steps to prepare for 1997.
The Chinese capital has just hosted its first ever charity ball - a type of event that is the very lifeblood of our socially driven town.
Local glitterati mingled with suave diplomats, while senior cadres sipped champagne and got acclimatised to hedonism.
Beijing tai-tais - a species that was in such danger of extinction that David Attenborough was said to be on their case - were evident on the ball committee.
There was even a mild boast that unlike in Hong Kong where the best we can muster for a top table guest is 'a retired politician' (we can only think they mean Chris Patten), they were actually able to lure Foreign Minister Qian Qichen to grace the historic occasion.
It must have had something to do with Qian's presence, but a rumour swept the ballroom that newly arrived British ambassador, Sir Len Appleyard, had done a 'Wiggham'.