Author: Xin Zhang

We are delighted to invite you to Imagining Futures Together: Chinese–Scottish Science Fiction in Conversation, to be held at Abden House, Confucius Institute for Scotland, on the afternoon of 17 August 2026 at 3pm, as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Confucius Institute for Scotland.

Part of our ongoing efforts to promote literary exchange between China and Scotland, this event offers a relaxed and inspiring forum for writers, literary professionals and readers to come together, share ideas, and deepen their understanding of one another’s literary cultures and practices.
The event will feature Mr Lu Ban and Dr Lorraine Wilson in conversation, moderated by Esther Tyldesley, noted translator and teacher of translation and Chinese at the University of Edinburgh. Lu Ban is an acclaimed Chinese science fiction writer whose short story The White Cliff was shortlisted for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Lorraine Wilson is a Scottish writer whose recent science fantasies include We Are All Ghosts in the Forest and The Salt Oracle; a winner of two British Fantasy Awards and the Society of Authors ADCI Literary Prize, her work has also been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

We hope the event will spark genuine exchange and meaningful conversation between writers and readers in China and Scotland.

All welcome, no registration required. Light refreshments will be provided.

Our five-week language course – the Chinese Conversational classes will resume from 25th May, 2026. These courses are for those who want to spend dedicated time practising their Chinese oral skills and consolidating their conversational skills. It will help students with different language levels develop well-balanced speaking and listening competence by learning and applying Chinese communicative skills in a specific professional or cultural context.

Please register by completing the Registration Form here.

Key Information

Online Conversational Chinese – Elementary level (Lunch time)

Teacher: Wu Jiarui

Date: Mondays, 25th May – 22nd June

Time: 12noon – 13:30

Duration: 5 weeks, 5 sessions (1.5 hour each session)

Class size: maximum of six students

Price: £50/£40

Location: Online via Teams

Online Conversational Chinese – Intermediate level (Lunch time)

Teacher: Wang Yining

Date: Mondays, 25th May – 22nd June

Time: 12noon – 13:30

Duration: 5 weeks, 5 sessions (1.5 hour each session)

Class size: maximum of six students

Price: £50/£40

Location: Online via Teams

In-person Conversational Chinese – Elementary level (Evening)

Teacher: Lu Yifei

Date: Wednesdays, 27th May – 24th June

Time: 6:00pm-7.30pm

Duration: 5 weeks, 5 sessions (1.5 hour each session)

Class size: maximum of six students

Price: £50/£40

Location: Room G03, No. 81 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AL

In-person Conversational Chinese – Intermediate level (Evening)

Teacher: Zou Rongfeng

Date: Wednesdays, 27th May – 24th June

Time: 6:00pm-7.30pm

Duration: 5 weeks, 5 sessions (1.5 hour each session)

Class size: maximum of six students

Price: £50/£40

Location: Room G02, No. 81 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AL

 

From Rejection to Greatness

 

 

Over a century ago, University of Edinburgh alumnus Eric Henry Liddell, Olympic gold medallist born in Tianjin, China, carried that spirit of excellence and resilience onto the world stage. Today, in that enduring tradition, we welcome one of the greatest champions in the history of sport.

Dr Deng will share her remarkable journey from early rejection to four Olympic gold medals and eighteen world championship titles, reflecting on resilience, high performance, women in sport, and the transformative power of sport in international understanding. She will be joined in conversation by Professor Grant Jarvie, Chair of Sport, and Mark Munro, Director of Sport and Active Health, both of the University of Edinburgh.

The event will conclude with a short audience question session, followed by a reception.

Biography

Dr Deng Yaping is one of the greatest table tennis players in history. Over her 14-year career, she captured four Olympic gold medals and 18 world championship titles, achieving the sport’s Grand Slam, and held the world No. 1 ranking for eight consecutive years, the longest such reign in women’s table tennis history.

Following her retirement, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University, a master’s degree from the University of Nottingham, and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

She served on the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes, Sports and Environment, and Ethics Commissions from 1997 to 2010, was the only athlete representative and ambassador for Beijing’s Olympic bids in 1993 and 2001, and served as Deputy Minister of the Olympic Village at the Beijing Games.

Key Information:

Date and time: Monday, 27th April, 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm

Venue: South Hall, South Hall Complex, The University of Edinburgh, Pollock Halls of Residence, 18 Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AR

The event is free, but booking is required. Please reserve your place via Eventbrite HERE

Key Information

Talk title: Chinese as a One‑Unit or Two‑Unit System? The Ontological Debate in International Chinese Language Education (中文一元抑或二元：国际中文教育的本体论之辨)

Date: Tuesday, 28th April

Time: 3-5pm

Location: G.159 – MacLaren Stuart Room, Old College, South Bridge, EH8 9YL.

The event is free, but please book via link HERE

This talk will be delivered in Chinese without translation.

First Inspector General for Chinese Language Education at the French Ministry of Education; doctoral supervisor at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO); first President of the European Association for Chinese Language Teaching. Former Vice President of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching. Founder and Honorary President of the French Association of Chinese Language Teachers. Former chief editor of the national curriculum for Chinese language teaching in primary and secondary education in France, and responsible for the development of examination standards for Chinese language teacher certification, as well as for the evaluation and recruitment of Chinese teaching staff nationwide.

He has successively served as chief editor of more than 40 monographs, including A Key to Chinese Speech and Writing, A Guide to the Use of Chinese Grammar, Studies in Chinese Language Education in France, and Intercultural Chinese Language Pedagogy. In addition, he has published more than 140 academic articles and developed the MOOCs Introductory Chinese and Dongba Script.

Honors include the “Chinese Language and Culture Friendship Award” (2003), the Special Contribution Award of China Book Publishing (2015), the Huilin Culture Award (2017), and appointment as International Advisor to China Publishing Group (2017). He was awarded the rank of Commander in the Ordre des Palmes Academiques (France, 2014) and Officer in the Order of Arts et Lettres (France, 2015).

法国教育部首任汉语总督学，法国东方语言文化学院博士生导师，欧洲首任汉语教学协会会长。曾任世界汉语教学学会副会长。法国汉语教师协会的创始人及荣誉会长。曾任全法基础教育汉语教学大纲主编和中文专业师资考试大纲的制定、汉语师资力量的考核和聘用。

先后主编《汉语语言文字启蒙》、《汉语语法使用说明》、《法国汉语教育研究》、《跨文化汉语教育学》等专著40多部。另外，发表学术文章140余篇并研发《中文启蒙慕课》及《东巴文慕课》

“中国语言文化友谊奖”（2003年）、中华图书特殊贡献奖（2015年），会林文华奖（2017年），中国出版集团国际顾问（2017年）。法国教育部学术棕榈司令勋章（2014年），法国艺术与文学勋章（军官勋位）（2015年）

Abstract

At the heart of International Chinese Language Education lies a fundamental ontological question: is the minimal unit of instruction one — the word — or two — character and word? While the dominant “word‑based” approach treats the word as the sole learning unit, Professor Bellassen argues that Chinese is inherently structured around a dual system: the semantic character and the communicative word. This character–word duality, he contends, is a defining feature of Chinese and should form the foundation of pedagogy. Drawing on two centuries of Western Chinese teaching practice, he proposes that clarifying this ontological issue is essential to resolving persistent theoretical tensions in the discipline and achieving greater conceptual coherence.

摘要

国际中文教育作为一个学科，其本体论层面的核心争议历久未决：这一学科的最小教学单位究竟是一个还是两个？一元论仅将”词”视为唯一的语言学习单位，以此构建整个教学体系；二元论则认为，汉语语言本身同时以表意的”字”（含语素）与交际的”词”作为编码解码单位，这是汉语有别于拼音文字语言的本体性特征，决定了”字”与”词”理应共同构成国际中文教育的最小教学单位。这场争论表面上是教学单位的选择之争，实质上是对汉语语言性质的本体论判断之争，它不仅关乎教学法的取舍，更关乎整个学科建立在什么样的语言观基础之上，也决定着教学论的路径选择与学习者的习得走向。因这一本体论问题上长期存在的认识论障碍，造成了当前国际中文教育的学科困境：即教学界以”词本位”的单一框架理解汉语，遮蔽了汉语”字—词二元”的本体性特征，导致学科基础产生内在矛盾。有鉴于此，本讲座立足于西方近两个世纪汉语教学的历史实践，以西方学习者为认知出发点，通过历史考察与本体论分析，论证”字—词二元”是汉语本体的核心独特性，进而主张澄清并确立这一本体论判断，是国际中文教育从根本上解决学科认识论困境、实现学科自觉的先决条件。