SCI Newsletter January-March 2022

The Sheffield Confucius Institute Newsletter: January - March 2022

SCI January-March Newsletter header

SCI Update

The Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield has continued to hold language courses, activities, exams, seminars and cultural events during January, February and March 2022.

Read on for more details!


UK-China Seminar Series Project 2022

To enhance our reputation for research excellence, the Sheffield Confucius Institute is delighted to partner with three of China’s leading universities - Peking University, Nanjing University and Beijing Language and Culture University to host the joint UK-China Seminar Series in 2022.

Speakers from the UK and China have been invited to submit their proposals and speak at the online seminars on similar topics and research interests. The Sheffield Confucius Institute (SCI) has received seminar proposals for various academics, lecturers and professors from the University of Sheffield. The SCI will now contact its partner universities in China and the UK academics will be matched with a China-based academic who has similar research interests, on a similar topic.


Chinese New Year Celebrations 2022

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is considered the most important festival in Chinese culture. Chinese New Year 2022 falls on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022, the Year of the Tiger. Celebrations of Chinese New Year traditionally last for 16 days, starting from Chinese New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival. In 2022, CNY falls from January 31st to February 15th.

The SCI organised the following activities and events to celebrate Chinese New Year:

Sheffield Spring Festival Gala

The SCI recently acted as a co-organiser of an exciting event celebrate Chinese New Year. On February 13th, the Chinese Students & Scholars Association held the Sheffield Spring Festival Gala, which was undoubtedly be one of the most vibrant events in Sheffield during the Chinese Year period.

CI CSSA CNY Gala

 The Gala was held in person at the Octagon Centre on campus and was also live streamed on Youtube. The Gala included a variety of different performances, including hip hop, classical Chinese musical performances, Chinese dances, magic tricks, comedy sketches and much more. Around 650 members of the public watched the show in person and approximately 8000 people watched the show online.

CSSA CI CNY Gala

CNY Zodiac Arts Competition

The SCI’s annual Chinese New Year Zodiac Painting Competition for Schools attracted participants from Peking University Elementary School (PKUEC). This then led both sides to jointly hold an Online Sino-British Children Zodiac Painting Exhibition during the Chinese New Year period.

Zodiac competition

The CNY Arts Competition for Schools received entries from 25 schools, in celebrating Chinese New Year, the Year of Tiger.

Zodiac competition
Zodiac competition

China-UK International Photography Competition: Exploring Perspectives

The China-UK International Photo Competition received 65 photo submissions across four categories: 1) Famous Landscapes and Cityscapes; 2) Everyday Life; 3) Cultures and Customs and 4) Artistic Images. A total of 24 E-voucher prizes were handed out to the winners of the competition. You can view some of the winning photos below. We have also created a gallery to view all of the winning photos, which can be viewed here.

Shangyuan Liu, 爱的传递 (Transmission of Love) - Everyday Life 2nd
Tianjie Lu, Swansea City with Kilvey Hill - Famous Landscapes & Cityscapes 2nd
Iana Zhornik, NaiNai - Everyday Life 1st
India McKellar, Wulingyuan National Park - Famous Landscapes & Cityscapes 1st

Feedback and Comments

Thank you for letting me know. It's my great honour to win this prize.

Competition feedback

Yifang Hao

Thank you for such an amazing contest and for letting me participate.

Competition feedback

Iana Zhornik

Thank you for holding this nice and interesting competition!

Competition feedback

Tianjie Lu

Thank you for liking my photos!

Competition feedback

Wen Zhang

Engineering Fun: The story of Orton and Spooner

The CI worked with National Fairground and Circus Archive (NFCA) at the University, touring a new exhibition at Western Bank Library "Engineering Fun: The Story of Orton and Spooner".

CI Newsletter January-March 2022 Fairground Fun

The CI delivered arts & crafts workshops whilst simultaneously celebrating Chinese Lantern Festival on 15th February 2022, with 78 children and parents attending the days event. 

CI Newsletter January-March 2022 Fairground Fun

Home-based HSK/HSKK Exam

HSK Logo

The HSK proficiency test was held on Saturday 12 March virtually and an in person HSK/HSKK test will be held on Saturday 14 May 2022. The in-person YCT test for school children was held on 24 March.

The upcoming internet-based HSK/HSKK test on Saturday 14 May will take place in person at The Diamond, 32 Leavygreave Road, Broomhall, Sheffield S3 7RD. To register or for more information, please contact confucius@sheffield.ac.uk.


The 15th Annual Board Meeting

The CI Annual Board Meeting was held on 15 March with Prof Zhenlin Wang, the Vice-President of Nanjing University, Prof Li Liu, the President of Beijing Language and Culture University and Dr Malcolm Butler, Vice-President of the University of Sheffield in attendance.

CI Newsletter Jan-Mar 2022 15th Annual Board Meeting

Interim Director of the CI, Professor Li Xiao delivered the 2021 Work Report and the 2022 Work Plan. Following on from this, Institute Coordinator of the CI, Dr Xinqun Hu provided the 2021 Financial Statement and 2022 Financial Budget.

CI Newsletter Jan-Mar 2022 15th Annual Board Meeting MB

In the later part of the meeting, various other matters were also discussed, including the 15th Anniversary celebrations plans, as the CI celebrates its 15th Anniversary this year, as well as the upcoming recruitment of the new CI Director, as well as changes to the CI Board.

CI Newsletter Jan-Mar 2022 15th Annual Board Meeting BLCU

The 15th Annual Meeting then came to an end, with Dr Malcolm Butler, Prof Li Liu and Prof Zhenlin Wang giving their concluding remarks. The three partner universities praised the achievements of the CI over the past year and commit to strengthening cooperation, enhancing inter-university projects and activities and the further development of the CI.

CI Newsletter Jan-Mar 2022 15th Annual Board Meeting NJU

Finally, thanks, well-wishes and warm regards were passed on by Prof Li Liu, Dr Malcolm Butler and Prof Zhenlin Wang.


Thank you for reading!

Take a look at the links below to read more about the SCI's recent activities and events!

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