The University of Aberdeen will welcome around fifty academics and artists from Wuhan University to its Old Aberdeen campus this week to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Confucius Institute.
The delegates will attend a series of events on Wednesday and Thursday, which have been organised to mark the fifth anniversary of the Confucius Institute’s foundation. They will be joined by the Consul General from the Chinese Consulate in Edinburgh and other local, national and international guests and collaborators.
As part of the anniversary celebrations Wuhan Chu Opera Troupe will perform their version of Shakespeare's Richard III on the Thursday afternoon in Elphinstone Hall. The colourful event is a unique opportunity to experience this aspect of Chinese culture in Scotland. The event will be preceded the night before by a talk about the localisation and globalisation of Shakespeare’s plays by Dr Jieping Xiong from Wuhan University’s English Department: his talk “Concerns and Strategies of Adapting Shakespeare” will be illustrated by actors from the Troupe.
Vice Principal Shu Hongbing from Wuhan will attend the Confucius Institute’s annual board meeting and will also co-chair a meeting of the Aberdeen-Wuhan Joint Research Institute.
As part of the two-day event, the Aberdeen Confucius Institute will also host a forum of international Confucius Institutes who are all connected to Wuhan University. At the forum delegates will see presentations on language teaching methods, hosting cultural events and partnership working with a view to developing innovative and shared practice across the network.
Confucius Institute Director, Dr Michelle Macleod said: “The magnitude of the events taking place in Aberdeen around these days is an indication of how much the Confucius Institute has grown and achieved in the five years since its inception. We look forward to welcoming all our local and global guests, students and colleagues to celebrate and commemorate with them the milestones already achieved; but most importantly we relish the opportunity to engage with our international partners to plan future shared activity.”