Yesterday afternoon, I got called into the office to collect a gift of lavishly-wrapped cakes from the boss. They're called moon-cakes and they're a traditional gift at this time of year: the mid-autumn festival. It's not actually mid-autumn at all, but it's deemed to be by those who set these dates. Moon-cakes are a kind of sweet cup-cake and are produced in the billions for the mid-autumn festival.

While I was there, a colleague invited me out. He was having dinner with a young woman, a former student and, once I'd been reassured by him that it would be OK with her for me to go along too, I agreed.

We went to the restaurant in the Sofitel. This was a high-class place - if you're in Australia, think of Melbourne's "Flower Drum" (and, having thus mentioned the Flower Drum, no further embellishment is required).

Our host was 23. She is a car-salesman. Her father owns the business and I gather that it's doing very well.

By the way, in Chinese culture, whomever issues the invitations is thereby the host. And the host pays. Always. You wouldn't even waste your breath arguing otherwise (you'd only upset people by doing that, because that's just not how China works). Going "Dutch" is out of the question.

The Chinese are nothing if not generous hosts. Can you imagine, in Melbourne, inviting a complete stranger to dinner at the Flower Drum, someone you will probably never meet again?