Direct flight nourishes further exchange

31 May 2016

The first direct flight will take off at Manchester Airport on 10th June noon and the Deputy Director Karen Wang is invited to witness the historical moment together with dozens of guests on the day.

The city of Manchester has been bubbling with anticipation for the direct flight between Manchester and Beijing since the official announcement made by the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister David Cameron last October and the waiting is now over. The first direct flight will take off at Manchester Airport on 10th June noon and the Deputy Director Karen Wang is invited to witness the historical moment together with dozens of guests on the day.

The Confucius Institute helped with the staff training and promotion of the route over the past two years and will continue to work with the Manchester Airport with its ambitious plan to open new routes to China. We delivered the business and cultural training for the Airport City project with participants from Manchester Airport, Carillion and Argent in 2014 and recently we were invited to write calligraphy for a promotional event at the airport. Manchester Airport has also expressed interest in sponsoring the Confucius Institute 10th anniversary event in November and more training in language and culture.

The Chair of the Confucius Institute Board of Directors, Professor Keith Brown, will join the city delegation in July to visit Beijing where Manchester United and Manchester City will hold their friendly match and other promotional activities will be held to profile Manchester as a destination for business, leisure and study.

The University of Manchester has the largest Chinese student population of over 4000 in the UK, which means for every 10 students on campus, one is a Chinese student. The direct flight and the reputation of the University will continue to make the city a magnet for the Chinese youth to seek their international experience including the short summer programmes and language study.

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