Leeds alumnus Martin Pollard, an award-winning multimedia journalist for Reuters, spoke in a guest lecture at the Business Confucius Institute on 8 December 2021. Martin graduated from Leeds in 2009 with a degree in History and French. After three years teaching English in China, he began his journalism career as...
Andrew Seaton, Chief-Executive of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), delivered the Business Confucius Institute Annual Lecture on 24 November 2021. Andrew graduated from Leeds with a degree in Chinese and Politics over 40 years ago. He formerly served as the Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong...
Emily Austin-Howell, a third-year Liberal Arts student at the University of Leeds, has recently joined the Business Confucius Institute (BCI) team as the Mandarin Aspirations Project Assistant. Her internship will progress the project’s goal of sharing stories about Mandarin learners’ experiences in order to educate, motivate, and inspire students. In...
Gary Izunwa, founder of the Climbing the Rungs social mobility podcast and Outward Mobility Manager for the British Council, joined us via Zoom on 6 July to talk about the benefits he gained from doing a five-month study placement in China after graduating. Gary credits the skills, experience and...
Jake Gill (高健), CEO of the character learning app Skritter, is a long-time learner of Chinese and also has experience of teaching Mandarin. Along his journey, Jake has picked up lots of tips and tricks for making Chinese characters stick. In this post we share some of Jake’s advice from...
We spoke to a student, a member of professional staff and an academic to get their different perspectives on the value of engaging with Chinese language and culture. They have all either taken Business Confucius Institute (BCI) Chinese courses or made other efforts to build connections through learning more about...
Andrew Methven, CEO of the British advisory firm Hampton Group, first picked up Chinese when backpacking around China. After a few years of travelling he completed an MA in Chinese-English Translation and Linguistics at SOAS University of London. While studying there he met the Chinese founders of the company he...
Professor Emma Cayley, Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (LCS) at the University of Leeds, has always been a people person and enjoys languages. She studied some Mandarin after taking trips to China for work and has seen how knowing even a little Mandarin can help with...
Whilst studying for a BTEC in journalism, Nathan Krout discovered a passion for Chinese language and culture that changed the course of his life. Having never previously considered going to university, he was accepted to study Chinese at the University of Leeds and now uses his language skills in his...
With our next 8-week Chinese courses beginning in May we had a look back at the Mandarin Aspirations stories we have shared so far from evening course students. Read on to find out what motivated them to learn Chinese and understand what influenced their decision to sign up for a course...
“Learn about the colourful customs and culture of Chinese New Year with our Head Teacher Maggie!
Find out more and r… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
“Welcome the year of 2022! It is snowing in Leeds today! Having snow is good lucky for new year in Chinese. 瑞雪兆丰年 (r… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
“We wish you a Happy New Year 新年快乐 (xīnnián kuàilè)!
Have you made any New Year's Resolutions about your Chinese lan… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
