On December 21st, to celebrate the occasion of Christmas and New Year, all the staff of the Confucius Institute in Dublin met in the cloud. It was a well-organized joyful celebration, and a welcome opportunity for all the teachers and volunteers to gather after a challenging year of working separately. More than 40 people attended the cloud gathering, including some who had worked with the Confucius Institute in previous years. Read more

In order to cope with the shortage of visiting teachers from China due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UCD Irish Institute for Chinese Studies, in conjunction with UCD Confucius Institute, organized a training programme (a series of webinars) for local Chinese teachers in July 2020.  Read more

On the afternoon of June 26th, UCD Confucius Institute held an online farewell party for outgoing Chinese teachers. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the farewell party was changed from the usual face-to-face tea ceremony to an online meeting for the first time. The party was hosted by volunteer Chinese teacher, Ms. Guiting Du. Present at the party were more than 40 teachers and staff of the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, including Professor Liming Wang, UCD CII Director, Mr. Wei Zhang, UCD CII Chinese Director. The achievements and successes of the CII family over the past year were reviewed and celebrated during the party. Read more

This year, 2020, is the year of the rat in China. To celebrate Chinese New Year, a fair was held on January 25th-26th in Smithfield, a 400-year-old landmark in Dublin city centre. Thousands of people, including Dublin citizens and local and overseas Chinese participated in the two-day event.  Read more

On the evening of December 4th, 2019, the “Chinese as a Foreign Language in Post-Primary Schools in Ireland: Demand, Growth and Sustainability” report and the “Chinese for Junior Cycle Short Course” teaching resource pack were launched at the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland. The conference was co-organized by the UCD Confucius Institute and the Irish Association of Chinese Teaching. Distinguished guests included Mr. Ruairí Quinn, Board Member of the Ireland China Institute and former Minister of Education and Skills in Ireland; Mr. Stephen Rhatigan, Chairman of the Irish Association of Chinese Teaching; Mr. Dawei Zheng, the Chief Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland and Mr. Wei Zhang, Chinese Dean of the UCD Confucius Institute. Representatives from the Department of Education and Skills, principals of secondary schools, Chinese teachers and students also attended the launch. Professor Liming Wang, Director of the UCD Confucius Institute and the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies, hosted the event. Read more