News and events

Lu Min - Author Residency

In March 2024, award-winning author, Lu Min came from China to Oxford Brookes Confucius Institute to take part in a three week author residency trip around the UK.

The trip involved a variety of locations, events and experiences and not only gave members of the public a chance to engage and learn from Lu Min, but also gave her the opportunity to express her thoughts on literature, publishing, reading and of course, her newly translated book Dinner for Six.

These events were as follows:

The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing; Contemporary China Through Literature: Characters and Translation
London; Translators Day in London with Nicky Harman and Jack Hargreaves
London Book Fair; The Golden River English edition promotional event
London Book Fair; The Oxford International Centre for Publishing drinks reception
Watling Academy in Milton Keynes; Chinese Idioms and Kunqu Opera
Bodleian Library; experience with Mamtimyn Sunuodula
Oxford Brookes University - Challenges in the Translation and Publication of Chinese Novels
Oxford Literary Festival lecture and banquet; China Lecture: Dinner for Six with Angus Phillips

Lu Min at the Oxford Literary Festival 2024 with Interpreter Xiangzhen He (Cherry)

Recent Events

Chinese New Year Festival Show

16 February 2024

Jinlong Culture & Performing Arts returns with a spectacular line-up of Chinese performing arts. In this year’s celebration an 18-metre long dragon will illuminate The Playhouse stage and welcome in the auspicious Year of the Dragon. There will also be dynamic Chinese lions, Britain’s best Kung Fu display and an array of incredible acrobatics and dance.

A family-friendly show full of colour, amazement and fun, it’s the perfect entertainment for all to enjoy on this auspicious occasion.

Education Digitalization and Learning Society Construction

30 January

This month the parallel session on "Education Digitalization and Learning Society Construction" was held in Shanghai as part of the 2024 World Digital Education Conference. More than 240 representatives from educational departments, universities, and research institutions from 35 countries and regions participated in the conference. Focusing on the theme of "Digital Education: Application, Sharing, and Innovation," the conference delved into the theoretical and practical issues of building a learning society in the digital age from different perspectives.

All participants generally believed that the rapid development of digital technology and the wave of digitalization will bring about profound changes to education.

Sinoist Roadshow

17 October

Liu Zhenyun and Liang Hong with the Sinoist Roadshow! On the 17th of October our Confucius Institute welcomed award-winning and bestselling Chinese authors Liu Zhenyun and Liang Hong to Oxford Brookes University! The event was held in Chakrabarti lecture theatre with over 80 attendees. The event was chaired by our Director Angus Phillips and was an insightful, humourous and enticing discussion in both Chinese and English. Attendees were then able to meet the authors and have their books signed! This event was in collaboration with Sinoist Books.

Past Events

2023

January 2023 Launched a new workshop series for schools, Ni Hao, China!
2 February Refreshers' Fair and Chinese New Year at Oxford Brookes Celebration with peach blossom workshops and kung fu and Lion Dance displays.
26 February Held our second Mandarin Corner Social for Chinese language learners.
28 March Welcomed photographer Patrick Dransfield for his talk, Young Photographer in Old Beijing
30 March Invited award winning author R. F. Kuang to attend the Oxford Literary Festival with an event in conversation with Professor Angus Phillips, CIOBU Director.
18-20 April London Book Fair
18 April An Adventure with Pandas: A live, virtual visit to the Panda Park in Chengdu for UK primary school students.
5 July Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) day! On this day we welcomed 4 schools from Oxfordshire to take part in a variety of Chinese culture classes, as well as learning about their language learning journeys.

2022

30 March Invited Chinese-British Author Xiaolu Guo to attend the 25th Oxford Literary Festival, taking part in an event with CIOBU Director, Professor Angus Phillips.
China Lecture: Life and Work, Xiaolu Guo Interviewed by Angus Phillips.
5 May Looking behind the curtain: from translation to publication. Author Xiang Jen Yao, translator Robert Hall and editor Angela Koo to celebrate the English edition of The Art of Chinese Living (2022).
31 May Dragon Boat Festival at the Bodleian Library, making paper zongzi, dragons and jumping frogs, and taking part in some calligraphy and Chinese character games.
2 September Line and Texture: The Photography of Nancy Sheung at Museum of East Asian Art, curated by Dr Michael Pritchard, photographic historian, and Director of Programmes at the Royal Photographic Society, Bristol. The exhibition was supported by the Confucius Institute, Oxford Brookes University.
Line and Texture: The Photography of Nancy Sheung
22 September Discovering Sanxingdui, held in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, an online event showcasing the incredible artifacts and discoveries of the ancient Chinese kingdom of Shu at the Sanxingdui museum in Sichuan, China.
Watch Discovering Sanxingdui
29 October Joined the Oxford Brookes University Science Bazaar with workshops in Chinese language and Five Animal Tai Chi, and drop in opportunities to practice calligraphy while getting a personalised Chinese name bookmark.
1 December A Fantastic Tour of Sanxingdui, held in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University for students primary and secondary school students studying Mandarin, focusing on the mysterious and magnificent discoveries unearthed at Sanxingdui in China.

2021

2020

18 February, Hosted the Chinese New Year Show at the Oxford Playhouse for the third year, and over 600 people attended this event including Lord Mayor of Oxford Craig Simmons and Professor Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. Korky Paul, the well-known illustrator of Winnie the Witch, was invited to attend the event and sign sold copies of his new book Winnie and Wilbur at Chinese New Year before the show and during the interval.
17 March, all Chinese courses turned online due to the coronavirus pandemic, right after the Oxford Brookes University announced that all face-to-face teaching on the campus should be stopped.
21 April, Held the first online Tai Chi taster, which was fully booked. The online Tai Chi lessons started from 28 April 2020.
14 May-16 July, Co-organised with Macmillan Education and FLTRP to organise a webinar series on the topic of “Teaching Online and Online Teaching: Transition, Principles, Technology and Practice for Chinese Language Teachers”.
10-19 August, CIOBU students attended the first online summer camp organised by the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).
30 October, Initiated a pilot survey on online Chinese course development in the UK, in which 12 Chinese teachers from UK Higher Education Institutions were interviewed.

2019

2018

18 March, Invited Chinese author Su Tong to attend the 22nd Oxford Literary Festival for a talk, and CIOBU Director Angus Phillips interviewed Su Tong at the Weston Lecture Theatre, the University of Oxford.
24 March, Zeqo Lorida, a master student from the Business School of Oxford Brookes University, represented CIOBU to take part in the 17th Chinese Bridge Competition held in the UK and won third prize in the final.
12-13 April, Co-organised the 2018 Oxford International Publishing Symposium with the Oxford International Centre for Publishing.
30 June, Attended the Oxford Festival of Arts for the first time, holding two workshops on Chinese dance.
23 July, Held contemporary woodblock print exhibition named The Soul of the Black Earth, co-presented by CIOBU and Heilongjiang Provincial Museum of Art, at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University. A printmaking workshop was held before the exhibition preview.
Youtube: The Soul of the Black Earth Exhibition
16-30 August, Organised the first Publishing Students’ Summer Camp to attend the Beijing International Book Fair for Oxford Brookes publishing students.
25 October, Launched the exhibition The Door Opened: 1980s China Photography by Adrian Bradshaw at the Glass Tank, Oxford Brookes University.
Youtube: The Door Opened: 1980s China Photography Exhibition

2017

25 February, Hosted two amazing Chinese New Year performances at Pegasus Theatre, the first time for CIOBU to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the local community.
4-6 May, Invited Ken Hom, the famous TV Chinese Chef, to give a talk on Chinese food and demonstrate Chinese cooking at the Outburst Festival, along with paper folding and cutting workshops for families.
5-6 July, Hosted the European Chinese Language Teaching Conference at St Catherine’s College, attended by more than 100 Chinese language teachers.
9-22 July, Hosted its first summer school customised for Chinese publishers in partnership with the Oxford International Centre for Publishing.
6 December, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, Madame Liu Yandong gave a speech titled Deepening People to People Exchange and Boosting the Development of the Golden Era at the University of Oxford, over 100 CIOBU students and staff were invited to attend this important event.

2016

7 May, First public event, Light of Civilization at Pegasus Theatre.
4-15 July, Partnered with Oxford International Centre for Publishing to host the summer school programme for publishing professionals.
6 October, Held the exhibition preview of One Step One View: Architecture Design Exhibition by Pan Gongkai at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University.

2015

19 September, Agreement was signed to establish the Confucius Institute at Oxford Brookes University (CIOBU).
BBC: New Chinese education centre opens at Oxford Brookes University (English)
BBC: 习近平走后又一特色孔子学院英国落户 (Chinese)
24 October, CIOBU was officially established
24 October, Exhibition Wisdom from the East: Calligraphy Exhibition of Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture was held at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University