Previous Events

Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Training Day

Tuesday, April 23, 2024 - 09:30 to 15:00

Lancaster University or Online (hybrid)

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Calling all teachers of Chinese!

We are delighted to be co-organising a hybrid (online or in-person) 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. Keynote speakers will share their insights on a range of topics such as Virtual Exchange, Continuation Theory and Character Learning Strategies. 

Registration is now open and free to attend. You can choose to attend in person at Lancaster University or online. Click the event to read further details.

Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club - Session 7

Friday, April 12, 2024 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via MS Teams

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for session 7 of the Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club. All are welcome to attend and you do not need to have attended any of our prior book club sessions. The session is informal, friendly and held in English on MS Teams.

In this session with Paper Republic, we will be discussing Mister Lover by Wang Xiaobo and translated by Eric Abrahemsen. This story is one of a collection of “Tales of the Tang” by Wang Xiaobo: stories ostensibly set in the Tang Dynasty, but peppered through with suspiciously modern elements. We are delighted that two translators familiar with Wang Xiaobo's work will be joining us for the session, Jason Sommer and Zhang Hongling.

To read the description of this event in Chinese, click here.

Playfulness in Language Learning and Teaching - Online Workshop

Friday, March 1, 2024 - 13:00 to 14:30

Online via Zoom

Contact: Ligao Wu

The Online Confucius Institute at The Open University will host an exciting online workshop ‘Playfulness in Language Learning and Teaching’ on Friday March 1^st (between 1pm and 2:30pm).

This workshop is aimed at Mandarin Chinese language teachers who would like to implement playfulness and games in their teaching, but it is also suitable for teachers of other languages.  The workshop will be highly interactive, with the first half focusing on pedagogy and benefits of playfulness in language teaching, and the second half turning into practical application. You will also have the opportunity to design your own game plan. The outline of the workshop is as follows: 

• the pedagogical value of playfulness in foreign language teaching; 
• how to make use of the existing games for language teaching (with examples);  
• practical application: development of own game ideas/adaptation of own materials; 
• discussion of practicalities (time frame, organisation) in small group classes in the context of teaching Mandarin Chinese. 
• creating your draft plan for a game and presenting it to the group. 

Public Talk: Harmony in Diversity - Navigating life and work in China with intercultural competence

Monday, February 5, 2024 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via MS Teams

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for this insightful talk from Nick Thomas, Director, China at the British Council and the Minister (Culture and Education) at the British Embassy in Beijing. In this role, he oversees the British Council's work to support more connections in education and culture between the UK and China.

About the talk:

Nick will share 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 - what he's learned about intercultural competence, what's changed, and what seems obvious now but wasn't at the time. He will also talk about his current role at the British Council, which focuses on building connections, understanding and trust between the UK and China.

Chinese New Year celebrations at the Open University 2024

Thursday, February 1, 2024 - 13:00 to 15:00

The Hub Theatre, MK Campus

Contact: Online CI Team

*Internal event for OU staff and postgraduate students only*

Please join us for Chinese Lunar New Year Celebrations 2024 on Thursday 1st February 2024 in the Hub theatre on the Milton Keynes campus.

We're delighted to be hosting another Chinese New Year celebration with activities and workshops for you to enjoy. Try your hand at ink calligraphy or create your own paper cutting with the help of facilitators joining us on the day from Goldsmiths, University of London.  We'll also have live dance performances from MK Chinese Dance Fusion, Tai Chi sessions from Feixia Yu and a fun quiz with prizes!

Alongside the activities, there will also be traditional Chinese refreshments such as springs rolls, coffee and tea to enjoy with colleagues.  

The Chinese Labour Corps - China’s doomed effort to regain territorial integrity during World War 1

Friday, December 8, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for this fascinating public talk by documentary filmmaker Peng Wenlan who will discuss the often underreported history of the Chinese Labour Corps in WW1. Peng Wenlan is a documentary filmmaker specialising in China with particular focus on modern history and social issues. She headed a three-year project on the Chinese Labour Corps on behalf of The Meridian Society, a London-based charitable organisation committed to the promotion of Chinese culture, and of which she is a founding member. The oral history film ‘Forgotten Faces of the Great War’ was one of the outcomes of the project.

Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club - Session 6

Friday, November 17, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for the 6th session of our Modern Chinese literature online book club on Friday 17^th November, 1-2pm (UK time). All are welcome to attend and you do not need to have attended any of our prior book club sessions. The session is informal, friendly and held in English.

In this session, we'll be discussing the story Winter is Coming (凛冬将至) written by WU Ang (巫昂) and translated by Kelly Zhang.

Please click on the event for full details and how to register. 

The Good Life: What ancient philosophers can tell us about living well today

Tuesday, October 17, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: OU Online Confucius Institute

Please join us for this online joint talk from the Online Confucius Institute and the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures and hear about what makes a good life from the perspective of East and West philosophy. We are delighted to welcome Dr Jingyi Jenny Zhao, ISF Senior Research Fellow at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge and Needham Research fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge to deliver a fascinating talk which considers some of  the fundamental questions in life relating to the human condition, including: What makes us human, as distinct from other living things? How should humans cultivate themselves so as to fulfil their potential? What makes a good life and how does one achieve it?

Please click on the event for full details and how to register. 

Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club - Session 5

Friday, July 7, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for the 5th session of our Modern Chinese literature online book club in collaboration with Paper Republic.

All are welcome to attend and you do not need to have attended any of our prior book club sessions. The session is informal, friendly and held in English.

In this session, we will be discussing the story 'Seeing ghosts' by Chan Ho-Kei, translated by Bill Leverett.
 

Public talk: Professor Roger T. Ames - China and the shaping of its own modernity

Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 15:30 to 16:30

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for a joint public talk from the OU Online Confucius Institute and the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures as we celebrate the first anniversary of the OU's Online Confucius Institute. We are delighted to welcome back Professor Roger T. Ames to give a talk on the shaping of Chinese modernity through cultural and linguistic translation.

Dynamic Qigong for Health: Session 3

Tuesday, April 18, 2023 - 11:00 to 12:00

Online

Contact: Kate Raine

(Internal event for OU staff in the Faculty of WELS)

A series of online mind and body exercise courses aimed to support your mental and physical health with Feixia Yu. These sessions are internal for OU staff within the Faculty of WELS as part of the WELS Wellbeing programme in conjunction with the OU Online Confucius Institute.

The slides from the event are available to download here. 

Modern Online Chinese Literature Book Club - Session 4

Friday, March 24, 2023 - 13:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Please join us for the fourth session of our Online Modern Chinese Literature Book Club. The sessions are informal, fun and held in English.

In this next session, we will discuss the story Backflow River by Jia Pingwa and translated by Nicky Harman. We are also delighted to welcome Dylan Levi King and Nick Stember to help facilitate this session alongside Nicky Harman and Emily Jones from Paper Republic.

The recording from this session is now available here.

Public talk: The key Intercultural Communication issues for Language Learning

Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

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.

Please click here to view a recording of the talk or read the transcript.  

Dynamic Qigong for Health: Session 2

Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 11:00 to 12:00

Online

Contact: kate.raine@open.ac.uk

A series of online mind and body exercise courses aimed to support your mental and physical health with Feixia Yu.

These sessions are part of the WELS Wellbeing programme in conjunction with the OU Online Confucius Institute and are being offered to OU staff in the Faculty of WELS. 

You can now view the recording from the session here. 

Dynamic Qigong for Health

Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - 11:00 to 12:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: For more details, please email wels-wellbeing@open.ac.uk

​Dynamic Qigong for Health: The first in a series of online mind and body exercise courses aimed to support your mental and physical health with Feixia Yu. 
*Internal event only as part of the wellbeing programme for staff in the OU Faculty of WELS*
A recording of this session is now publicly available for all here.

Food and wellbeing from the traditional Chinese medicine perspective

Friday, February 17, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

An introduction to Chinese medicinial cuisine where the ancient healing art of food is used to balance human nature. XING Mei （邢枚）, Professor in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), will introduce to you a brief history of Chinese medicinal cuisine and general principles of Chinese diet and herbs, as well as its relation to general health and wellbeing.

Modern Online Chinese Literature Book Club - Session 3

Friday, January 20, 2023 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

The third session of the online Modern Chinese Literature Book Club will meet again on 20th January 2023. All are welcome and you do not need to have attended any prior book club sessions. This session will be looking at the works of A Yi and two short stories in particular.

The recording and transcript from this session is now available to view. Click to expand the event listing. 

Chinese New Year at the Open University

Tuesday, January 17, 2023 - 12:00 to 14:00

Hub Theatre, Milton Keynes Campus

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Chinese New Year at the OU - try your hand at spring roll making, ink calligraphy and sample traditional tea and snacks whilst listing to live Guqin music.

Please note this event is internal only for OU staff and students. 

To see a selection of photos from the event - please view the Padlet link on the news story

Second session of the Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club

Friday, November 18, 2022 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: The OCI Team

Join us for the second session of our Modern Chinese Literature Book Club event.  You don't need to have attended the first session - all are welcome!  

Facilitated by Nicky Harman, Emily Jones and Mike Fu - experts in Chinese literature and translation studies, our fun, interactive and informal book club will be run in English and focuses on the English translation.

In this session, we'll introduce you to the story of Hitchhikers (搭车客), by Sanmao (三毛), first published in Stories of the Sahara (translated by Mike Fu, Bloomsbury, 2020).

Update 22/11/22 -  A recording from the first half of the book club session introducing and discussing the story is available (or view here on WeChat) and here is the transcript 

First session of the Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club

Friday, October 7, 2022 - 13:00 to 14:00

Online via Zoom

Contact: The OCI Team

The first session of our Modern Chinese Literature Online Book Club event, facilitated by two experts in Chinese literature and translation, Nicky Harman and Emily Jones.

*A recording of the first half of this session is now available*. Please note this includes an introduction to the texts by Nicky Harman and Emily Jones but does not include the group discussion. The transcript is also available. 

Public talk: China through a glass of wine

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 - 16:30 to 17:30

Online

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

Conference ‘Creativity in Chinese language teaching and learning - Research and practice in challenging times’

Friday, June 24, 2022 - 13:00 to Saturday, June 25, 2022 - 17:00

Contact: online-ci@open.ac.uk

The Online Confucius Institute at The Open University is co-organising this international conference with British Chinese Language Teaching Society (BCLTS)

Public talk followed by demonstration of Chinese character writing with soft brush

Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 13:00 to 14:00

In this public talk, Dr YAN Tong aims to discuss how to decode embedded meanings through analyzing the ways of forming characters, their historical evolution and actual functions in communication. Character handwritings – hard pen writing and soft brush writing will also be demonstrated in the talk.

The edited recording of this talk is now available.

Watch Video: Dr YAN Tong: Demonstration of Chinese character writing with soft brush

Professor Roger T. Ames: Confucian China in a Changing World Cultural Order

Friday, May 13, 2022 - 11:00 to 12:00

Online - Zoom

Contact: Online Confucius Institute Team

In this public lecture, Professor Ames will address the question: What impact will Confucianism—a philosophy that begins from the primacy of relationality and grounded in family feeling—have on world culture in the ensuing decades?

The recording of the talk is now available. Please note that in the subtitles all the Chinese terminologies are in pinyin form.

Watch video: Confucian China in a Changing World Cultural Order

Public talk by Professor GU Yueguo: Chinese Face over centenaries

Friday, April 8, 2022 - 13:00 to 14:00

Professor GU Yueguo from Beijing Foreign Studies University explores issues around the concept of “face” in China and the high importance of “saving face to preserve a person’s respect and honour..

Link to video recording.

Link to transcript.