The Washington Post
By Al Kamen
Wednesday, March 3, 2010; A15

Spring break for congressional folks is just around the corner. Time for lawmakers and aides to sign up for those grueling missions in search of facts. But don't dally. For example, we hear there's only a seat or two left on an excellent 12-day trip for congressional staffers to China, leaving March 30.

The idea apparently is to send a bipartisan group of 10 congressional staffers to Beijing and western China to focus on "trade, foreign policy, infrastructure and national security," an e-mail invite said. The trip is sponsored by a nongovernmental group and, we're told, "is State Department-approved under the Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act."

The itinerary is not set yet, and the foundation hopes to "tailor the program to meet the unique interests of the participants." Whose interests are unique-er than yours?

Well, since you're invited as a senior congressional staffer, and China's really, really important, there are a few activities you might focus on (once you finish with the obligatory -- but truly great -- tours of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and dinner at the Li Family Restaurant).

For example, you might carry signs of the Dalai Lama around Lhasa in Tibet, attend an unofficial church service in Beijing, meet with Uighur leaders in Urumqi or demand a chat with jailed essayist Liu Xiaobo. A fun game might be to see who can spot the most plainclothes thugs lurking in Tiananmen Square.

Wait! Apparently the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, which does a lot of hosting of congressional groups, is working on the itinerary. Okay, so scratch most of the above. You may have to see the spectacular Mogao Caves with the Buddhist statuary inside, the market in Kashgar, the Terra Cotta Warriors and maybe some green technology sites. Perhaps a tour of worker conditions and housing in Dongguan, the huge factory city on the southeast coast, might be okayed.

And maybe, if there's a stop in Shanghai on the way back, you can go to the city history museum in the basement of an office tower in the Pudong area.

There's one section about the century or so ending in 1946, the period when the British, French and Americans carved up Shanghai (and other important cities) and ran it as a colony. This section is tastefully called "The Metropolis Infested With Foreign Adventurers."

There are great photos, including some of the colonial dames in the 30s, bedecked in summer finery and carrying parasols at the grand local racetrack, run by a colonials' club. Remember how great it was for foreigners living there in the old days? No? The Chinese do.

Gives you a feel for why our Chinese friends are inclined to balk at Washington's demands for help with the lunatic North Koreans and the Iranians or why they can't seem to stop their annoying currency-rate manipulation.

The game's still on

Several anxious entrants in the Loop "Outta There" Contest -- to guess which senior administration official will be first to bolt -- asked whether social secretary Desiree Rogers's resignation announcement Friday canceled the contest before the March 10 deadline.

No, no, no. Remember: When the contest began last Wednesday, we specifically excluded Rogers, because, as we wrote, "she's already, as they say, keeping her options open."

So send your entry to outtathere@washpost.com or In the Loop, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Winners will get a coveted Loop T-shirt and the bragging rights that go with it. (Administration officials may enter on background.) To be eligible, you must include a phone number -- work, home or cell -- so we can contact you.

We printed a list of all the officials in contention in a column last week, which you can find on the Web site.

Beans and francs

Remember "freedom fries"? That snappy campaign to show U.S. displeasure with the French for refusing to go along with the invasion to rid Saddam of those weapons of mass destruction? In 2003, House cafeterias were ordered by then-House Administration Committee Chairman Robert Ney (R-Ohio) to rename french fries "freedom fries." French toast also fell to the freedom movement.

Well, times have changed. Big time, as Dick Cheney would say. National security adviser James Jones on Monday was to receive the 2010 Grand Prix de la Francophonie award. The yearly award goes to an "American public figure for work promoting and developing the values of the Francophone world," according to an announcement from the Canadian Embassy. Jones spent his early years in Paris and also studied at the American School of Paris.

French was restored in the cafeterias, both to fries and to toast, in mid-2006. Ney resigned from Congress a few months later, after pleading guilty to charges relating to the investigation of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney did about a year in prison, then a few months in a halfway house, and now has a radio talk show in Ohio.