UK-China Seminar Series | 中英讲座系列

The UK-China Seminar Series, a project started in 2022 and now moving into 2023, is designed to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between UK and China-based academics. 

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UK-China Seminar Series Projects 2024

Seminar topics for 2024:

The SCI plans to collaborate with a range of universities on the seminar series in 2024, including Beijing Language & Culture University (BLCU), Nanjing University, Chongqing University, Tianjin University, Renmin University and more.

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Previous events

2023

4 December 2023

Advancing Discourse Analysis - Exploring the Power of Corpora and Practical Applications. This talk consisted of discussion by two speakers, Dr Lily chen, who was for many years a lecturer in the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield and Professor Liu Dingjia, a full-time research fellow at the National Research Center for Foreign Language Education and National Research Center for State Language Capacity in Beijing Foreign Studies University. This session delivered on 4 December and its subject of discourse analysis helped to explore the underlying meanings, social contexts, and power dynamics in spoken or written communication. 

5 May 2023

Conservation of Minority Culture in Guizhou Province - A Soundscape Perspective. For this discussion, the SCI was joined by Professor Jian Kang, Professor of Acoustics and Soundscape at the Bartlett Faculty of Built Environment, University College London (UCL) and Professor Mao Linqing, the Deputy Dean, Associate Professor, PhD Supervisor, at the School of Architecture & Art, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University. Guizhou is a province with one of the largest number of ethnic minorities in China. The soundscapes of Guizhou undertake and explore social and cultural functions such as the recording of historical culture and the distinguishing of ethnic groups. This talk will analyse Guizhou's traditional culture from the perspective of soundscapes (the everyday sounds of the region and culture), laying a theoretical foundation for the inheritance and dissemination of ethnic cultural heritage. This joint presentation was based on the collaborative work of the two speakers.

2022

14 December 2022

The Global Appeal of Tang Xianzhu and Shakespeare took place on December 14, 2022. For this fascinating discussion, the SCI was joined by Dr Carmen Levick from the University of Sheffield and Professor Chen Jun from Peking University.

14 October 2022

The Characteristics and Teaching Strategies of Heritage Language Learners. This talk consisted of discussion by two speakers, Dr Sabine Little from the School of Education at the University of Sheffield and Professor Cao Xianwen from Nanjing University.

Dr Little - 'Supporting heritage language development through technology: child’s play or hard work?'

Prof. Cao - 'Chinese heritage language education'

27 June 2022

Merging or Conversing?: Reflections of a Western Composer Writing for Chinese Instruments

On Monday 27 June, the Sheffield Confucius Institute was proud to collaborate with Peking University for this fascinating online event. Sheffield University Department of Music Professor Dorothy Ker, will join representatives of Peking University in an exploration of the history of notation and characteristics of the unique Kunqu opera form and the Guqin musical instrument - complete with live and recorded performances of Kunqu Opera and the Guqin during the event.

2021

10 November 2021

On 10 November 2021, the Sheffield Confucius Institute held the next talk in its annual China Seminar Series: Online Chinese Language Learning and Teaching during COVID-19 and Its Potential Impacts - Challenges and Opportunities. The talk was delivered by Professor George Xinsheng Zhang, Director of the Centre for Modern Languages at Richmond University, the American International University in London and author of the award winning Chinese language textbooks, Chinese in Steps.

18 & 20 May 2021

On the 18 & 20 May 2021, the Sheffield Confucius Institute held two lectures for part-time and full-time teachers on the use of "R". The lectures covered a variety of topics, including logistic regression, mixed effects models, pairwise comparisons and random variation - all common themes when working with data. The lectures were organised by Lewis Baker and James Turner, PhD students at the University of Southampton.

2020

10 December

On 10 December 2020, the Sheffield Confucius Institute invited Professor Roel Sterckx, the Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science and Civilization at the University of Cambridge to give a talk exploring what the ancient Chinese thought about wealth, poverty, and how one should aspire to become a productive member of society.

14 July

On 14 July 2020, Professor Zhao Yang, Dean of the School of Chinese as a Second Language from Peking University, delivered an online lecture titled Research on the Acquisition of Chinese marker “men” from the perspective of Feature Recognition.

北京大学对外汉语教育学院院长赵阳教授围绕《特征重组视角下汉语复数标记“们”的习得研究》为主题，为孔院全体教师进行了专家线上讲座。

2 July

On 2 July 2020, Dr. Clare Wright, Lecturer in Linguistics and Language at the University of Leeds, discussed the challenges faced with Chinese teaching and the progressive development of Chinese teaching with the talk Is learning Chinese easy or difficult?.

利兹大学语言学与语言教学讲师克莱尔 莱特（Clare Wright）博士以“学习汉语易或难”为题，探讨中文教学所面临的挑战及逐步发展的汉语教学实践。

3 June 2020

On 3 June 2020, Modesto Corderi Novoa, from University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Spain, was invited to give a talk- Improlanguage!, a practical workshop for language or teachers and students on how to utilise several useful drama techniques that can facilitate interaction and communication in the language classroom.

孔院组织举办首场线上教师培训：来自西班牙的莫帝 Modesto Corderi Novoa,（University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Spain)，为孔院汉办教师和本土教师举办了首场线上教师培训—戏剧教 学法培训.

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For more information, contact:

Email: confucius@sheffield.ac.uk