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It looks like officials at the World Economic Forum have learned their lessons after all.

Fresh from the embarrassment of not having any high level officials from China attending Davos this year, WEF officials are apparently in discussions over moving the date of next year’s event so that it does not clash with Chinese New Year.

As Lifen Zhang, editor-in-chief of FTChinese, reported on the FT’s Davos liveblog on Friday:

The absence of Chinese senior officials – who stayed away from Davos this year due to the forum’s clash with Chinese lunar new year festivities – has been something of an embarrassment for organisers.

Especially this year, when there will be the once-a-decade leadership shuffle in China, it made sense for senior Chinese officials to stay home and celebrate the new year at home, where they can be be seen with the people during the festivities.

Now it appears that the World Economic Forum is open to moving the annual Davos gathering to an earlier date, possibly in mid-January, to ease the way for Chinese leaders to attend.

Related reading:
China breaks 30-year tradition with Davos, FT
Full coverage of Davos 2012, FT