The aim of the BCI’s Mandarin Aspirations Project is to encourage and celebrate the learning of Chinese by sharing the motivations (why study Chinese), study experiences (challenges and rewards) and study outcomes (employability, confidence and intercultural skills) of Chinese language learners.
This video shows some highlights from guest lectures and interviews covering these three themes. On this page you can find lots more blog posts and video clips to browse!
This project provides a platform for Chinese language learners, from beginners to old hands, to share their Mandarin learning journey through different media, such as short videos, profiles or stories.
We hope that these Mandarin Aspirations stories will encourage those of you already studying Chinese, and inspire new learners to join a growing and supportive community of Chinese language enthusiasts in the UK.
Look out for updates in our emails, on Twitter and Facebook, and here on our website.
Babette Radclyffe-Thomas studied Chinese at the University of Leeds, graduating in 2012. She is now an award-winning freelance journalist.
Read Babette's storyProfessor Gary Chambers took the BCI level 1 course to learn some basic Mandarin phrases to use with his Chinese students.
Read Gary's storyRichard went from a student lacking confidence in his abilities to a fluent Mandarin speaker who has completed all the HSK exams and now teaches Chinese at Harrogate Grammar School.
Read Richard's storyGrace, a third year Chinese student at the University of Leeds, shares her Mandarin Aspirations story.
Read Grace's storyEmily Austin-Howell shares some thoughts on her year spent as an intern with the Business Confucius Institute team as the...
On 27 April 2022, Leeds alumnus James Halstead MCIL CL delivered a lecture about the global language service providing (LSP)...
Leeds alumna Nandini Venkata was joined by a panel of women living and working in Beijing at an online event...
Jacopo Mazzanati lived in China for five years working in the world of professional football as a coach and as...
“One point @chinarhyming will discuss in his talk on 30th March is how various administrations have formed the envir… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
19 hours ago
“Lovely feedback from our workshop yesterday on Chinese traditional clothing! twitter.com/bumsonseats/st…”
20 hours ago
“The Ultimate China Bookshelf column by Paul French for @thechinaproj starts with a couple of business related title… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
1 days ago