Local residents in Belfast enjoy Chinese language and calligraphy sessions in collaboration with Northern Ireland Libraries

On 19th-20th June 2025, The Open University in Belfast in collaboration with Northern Ireland Libraries and the OU Online Confucius Institute have successfully run a two-day Chinese language taster event at Ormeau Library in Belfast. Taught by OU Languages Staff Tutor Ximena Arias-Manzano, local residents enjoyed interactive and fun activities as an introduction to Mandarin Chinese such as daily greetings, basic vocabulary, learning the tones of Mandarin as well as asking and giving their names. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to try their hand at Chinese ink calligraphy, led by Professor Xu Xin, Director of the OU Online Confucius Institute. Each person received a personalised Chinese name and was taught how to dip their brushes and write the Chinese character "福"  (fú, meaning "fortune", "happiness") in ink.

The two sessions were met with great enthusiasm and helped learners, who had many differing motivations for wanting to learn Chinese, experience how a language often considered complex to learn is in fact accessible and highly enjoyable.