UCLan Confucius Institute reaches 10-year milestone
The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is celebrating a decade of bringing Chinese language and culture to the county.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the UCLan Confucius Institute (CI), which was established by the University in 2008 to bring Chinese art, culture, music, language and traditions to the local community.
Over the last decade, the UCLan CI has worked with more than 70 schools and colleges to deliver around 150 China activity days. It has taught more than 800 hours of calligraphy and brush painting, 500 hours of Taichi and 550 hours of one-to-one Chinese language lessons. In addition, it has provided more than 350 scholarships to study in China and taught Chinese language to more than 1,200 students.
The Director of the UCLan CI, Feixia Yu, said: “We are very proud to have served the University, local schools and the wider community in Preston and Lancashire with a wide range of projects over the past decade.
“We have organised large academic conferences on responses to climate change and the Maritime Silk Road initiative and organised sixth form study days on Chinese geography. We have fostered educational exchanges with an annual head teachers’ visit to China and subsequent return visits by Chinese educators and pupils. The annual Chinese New Year performance, the lion dance and our activities at the Harris Museum are now regular fixtures in the multicultural calendar of Preston. We are also very pleased to be offering regular Taichi classes and other Chinese well-being workshops in many different venues in and around Preston.”
"With the strong support of the University and our partners in China, we are confident the next decade will see our provision further enrich the cultural and business life of Preston and Lancashire."
At the event, UCLan Executive Director of International Strategy and Partnerships Tim Steele told the guests how the UCLan CI will put the One-Belt-One-Road initiative into action, setting the direction of its development in the next decade.
The University marked the milestone with a celebratory event on campus attended by Preston Mayor, Councillor Trevor Hart, and other guests including local school and college teachers, students, alumni and Directors of other Confucius Institutes around the UK.
Dance instructor Jing Fu performed a solo Chinese folk dance and guests were also treated to a Taichi sword and a Qigong performance by Taichi instructor Jing Su. Kathy Hall, from the London Chinese Opera Studio, gave two demonstrations of Beijing Opera and Kun Opera. Congratulatory letters of support from Dr Xiyuan Zheng, the new Consul General from the Chinese Consulate in Manchester and Professor Jinbiao Ji, President of UCLan CI Partner Beijing International Studies, were read out at the event.
Feixia added: “We are very fortunate to have developed strong partnership with Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council’s Culture Services and other institutions. With the strong support of the University and our partners in China, we are confident the next decade will see our provision further enrich the cultural and business life of Preston and Lancashire.”
View images from the event on the UCLan Flickr gallery.
