It is still slightly chilly in Kolding in early spring, though the warm weather of spring is drawing near. Multiple events have been held in International Business Academy (IBA) campus. Since February this year, the Confucius Classroom has held a diversity of events, including Chinese cultural year events, Chinese teaching, and cultural lectures, gaining widespread publicity in Kolding. Southern Denmark Newspaper and local newspapers in Kolding all covered these events.
Beginning from February 8th, the Confucius Classroom held a one-week Chinese New Year experience event. Chinese couplets, Fu posting, Chinese knotting, Red Lanterns, and Papercutting decorated the International Business Academy in Denmark, creating a celebrative atmosphere of the New Year and inspiring the curiosity and rejoice of Danish faculty and students. Jiaozi and rice dumplings made in class won the hearts of teachers and students alike. Even the local chef Brain was curious about how to make Jiaozi. At the venue of the events, one could hear many people saying nihao in Chinese during the Chinese New Year knowledge interaction. Southern Denmark Newspaper and local newspapers in Kolding covered this event. In just 2 or 3 days, tens of thousands of people followed this event on Facebook.
On March 1st, the elementary Chinese class began. Students include teachers and students of IBA, business practitioners, middle-aged women and students from other schools. To learn about Chinese culture, these students came to the class and began learning Chinese. Some of them had to drive for 40 minutes after work to make the class but carried on learning Chinese twice a week, sometimes in spite of rainy weather. During class breaks, students enjoyed Chinese tea and desserts prepared by organizers and gave their warm praises. While drinking tea and smelling the fragrance of tea, the students were taking in knowledge and history of Chinese tea.
On March 7th, the classroom held a lecture on Chinese culture. Over 50 teachers and students attended this event. The lecture introduced Chinese history and culture, inspiring students to travel to China.
On March 8th, several teachers of the IBA hosted a small-scale seminar to discuss how to help companies understand Chinese companies and their corporate culture and how to communicate with Chinese people, etc.
On March 16th, a cultural lecture on understanding Chinese culture was held, which attracted more than 200 attendees and covered a wide range of topics ranging from agricultural culture to maritime culture, daily life to corporate culture, ancient times to modern times, and traditional festivals to e-commerce shopping festivals. With a wealth of information, this event was warmly received by its participants. This lecture was given by XU Xiaoqing of our university, who was immensely popular with Danish teachers and students.
The Denmark Confucius Classroom is now on the right track with the support of leaders and teachers of our university, creating increasingly significant influence overseas. We look forward to an even brighter future for the Confucius Classroom.
