Upcoming Events

Nov 29

Living with Dragons – life and work in China between 1988-2008

Friday, November 29, 2024 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via MS Teams

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for our next OCI public talk where we are delighted to welcome author Giles Chance to discuss reflections from 20 years living and working in China during a time of rapid change.

Giles witnessed at first hand the remarkable changes and development in China over the 20 years from 1988 to 2008. When he first visited China it was still showing the effects of the Cultural Revolution in that many Chinese were fearful. In this talk, he will share with us personal experiences of living and working in China by looking back now to 1988 and reflecting on how such a dramatic change and development could be possible, and how the emergence of China affected the global economy, from about 1995, in ways which at the time were not understood.

Aug 1

Take a look at some of our recent public talks and events

Friday, August 1, 2025 - 00:00

If you missed the chance to attend the first time or would like to rewatch some of our recent public talks and events here, you can view these on the previous events page.

May 23rd, 2024 - 'China's Transformation in the Anthropocene' . A public talk from Professor Stephen Peake and Dr James Warren from The Open University, who will discuss the role of China on the environment in an ever changing world, in particular China’s transformation towards a greener economy.
April 23rd, 2024 - Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. A hybrid training day with Lancaster University Confucius Institute for teachers of Chinese as Foreign Language.
The one-day event on Tuesday 23^rd April 2024 will share best practice in teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.
April 12th, 2024 - the 7th session of the Modern Chinese literuature Online Book Club discussed the story Uncle Lover (舅舅情人) by Wang Xiaobo (王小波) and translated by Eric Abrahemsen.
March 1st 2024 - ‘Playfulness in Language Learning and Teaching’ workshop delivered online for teachers of Chinese.
February 5^th 2024 - Nick Thomas, Director, British Council China, gave a insightful talk about his experiences of studying Chinese for thirty years, living and working in China for more than a decade, and supporting a wide range of UK organisations engaging with China. He shared what he has learned about intercultural competence and how he continues to learn about Chinese language and culture.
December 8th 2023 - Peng Wenlan, documentary and filmmaker delivered a fascinating talk on the Chinese Labour Corps in WW1, an often unknown and under reported area of WW1 history.
November 17th 2023 - The 6th session of the Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club discussed the story Winter is Coming (凛冬将至) written by WU Ang (巫昂) and translated by Kelly Zhang. We were delighted to welcome both WU Ang and Kelly Zhang to the session.
October 17th 2023 - Dr Jingyi Jenny Zhao delivered a fascinating talk which considered some of life's fundamental questions - The Good Life: What ancient philosophers can tell us about living well today.
May 11th 2023 - Professor Roger T. Ames returns as part of the OCI's one year anniversary to deliver a fascinating talk on 'China and the Shaping of Its Own Modernity'.
March 13th 2023 - Professor Zhu Hua, from the International Centre for Intercultural Studies, Institute of Education UCL, joins us for the first Distinguished Speaker Series of 2023, to discuss key shifts within intercultural communication and their implications for language learning.
January 17th 2023 - Chinese New Year of the rabbit celebrations at the Open University. A celebratory event held on the Milton Keynes campus for OU Staff and students. Over 150 attendees came along to have a go making their own spring rolls, practising the chinese character for happiness in ink calligraphy, listen to live Guqin music and sample Chinese tea and snacks. Click here to read more about the event.
November 18th 2022 - the second session from the online Modern Chinese Literature book club. A discussion of the Hitchhikers by Sanmao - facilitated by Nicky Harman and Emily Jones from Paper Republic and hitchhikers translator Mike Fu.
Oct 7th, 2022 - the first session of the new online Modern Chinese Literature Book Club - facilitated by expert translators Nicky Harman and Emily Jones from Paper Republic. This first session discussed the story Sissy Zhong by Yan Ge.
July 6th, 2022 - Janet Wang provided a whirlwind tour of Chinese history, poetry and culture through the unfamiliar story of an ancient drinking culture. An intriguing talk jointly hosted by the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University and the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine at London South Bank University
June 24, 2022 - Conference: 'Creativity in Chinese language teaching and learning - Research and practice in challenging times'. See recordings from this international conference with the British Chinese Language Teaching Society (BCLTS)