Cultural partnerships
The Confucius Institute is a founding member of China Film Forum UK (CFFUK) and has supported the screening of Chinese films at HOME for the past fifteen years.
Apart from one-off screening of mainstream and art films like If you are the one (非诚勿扰) The Golden Era (黄金时代), I am not Madam Bovary (我不是潘金莲), and Crime: Hong Kong style, CFFUK has showcased a series of HK crime thrillers in 2016 and Creative vision: Hong Kong cinema 2007-2017 in 2017.
Literature
The Institute has worked closely with Manchester Literature Festival and Comma Press in introducing Chinese literature and writers to the north-west.
Since 2008, we have invited many authors from China and UK to share their works and stories with readers, including Xinran (薛欣然), Guo Xiaolu (郭小橹), Hong Ying (虹影), Diao Dou (刁斗), Zhu Wen (朱文), Han Dong (韩东) and Wang Anyi (王安忆), Ding Liying (丁丽英), Xi Chuan (西川), Chen Qiufan (陈楸帆).
We supported the publication of Shi Cheng (十城) by Comma Press in 2012. The Book of Shanghai and The Book of Beijing were published in 2020 and 2023 respectively, as part of Comma Press' Reading the City series.
Drama
We support young and emerging Chinese writers living in the UK to tell the stories of the East Asian communities on the page, stage and the internet.
We hosted the performances of From Shore to Shore in 2017 and 2018 and Mulan in 2022. We commissioned the play Behind the Curtained Door, which was premiered at John Thaw Studio in September 2022, followed by a tour at Leeds Stage One, Nottingham Lakeside Arts theatres and Edge Hill University.
The Confucius Institute is working with the Drama department to run an annual play writing competition in 2024 and support the East Asian students to produce their own plays from the competition.
Museums
The Confucius Institute works with Manchester Museum in delivering cultural workshops to students, staff and the general public. The Lee Kai Hung Chinese Cultural Gallery offers exciting opportunities for closer collaboration.
We had strong links with the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and participated in the Manchester Science Festival for many years.
In 2010, the CI brought the China Space Programme: from Gun Powders to Space Rockets exhibition to Manchester and attracted thousands of visitors. We supported MOSI's links with China and invited and collaborated with Zhejiang Association of Sciences and Technology on science education.
The Institute started to survey China-related collections in the region including those at Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Macclesfield Silk Museum in 2016, with the aim of supporting these institutions in uncovering their rich collections and making them more accessible to the general public and researchers.
Local communities
We also work with local communities like Hulme Community Garden Centre, where we have created a Confucius garden and deliver gardening workshops for students and the public.