Business Confucius Institute training to support British Library China Project

British Library staff at the Boston Spa site enjoyed an afternoon of Chinese culture training delivered by Business Confucius Institute (BCI) staff, as part of the British Library’s China project.

The British Library in China: connecting through culture and learning project aims to build closer cultural and people-to-people relations between the British Library and China, working with Chinese cultural and educational organisations.

The training and workshops delivered by Jingjing Zhao and Ellen Wang on 12 October 2017 covered a range of topics that would enhance participants’ understanding of China. Not all these staff members are directly involved in the China project, but developing their knowledge of the language and culture helps the British Library achieve their goal of closer cultural and people-to-people relations between China and the organisation.

Topics covered in the hands-on training included:

• Confucianism and the five virtues
• Chinese society (for example the pursuit of harmony, avoidance of conflict and concept of face)
• Chinese communication
• Business etiquette and meetings
• Calligraphy (origins, materials, technique, and basic strokes)
• Papercutting (history, examples, and practical activity)

Chinese language and culture training linked to the China project has previously taken place in London, where staff also enjoy Mandarin lessons to help them cater for Chinese visitors. The Business Confucius Institute at the University of Leeds was delighted to bring this cultural training to the Boston Spa site so that even more staff can benefit from this cultural exchange project.

The BCI is committed to working with organisations of all kinds to improve understanding of China in a way that will benefit them, their staff, and their customers.

View photos of the workshop on our Flickr and Facebook pages.