Since 2012, the Confucius Institute has hosted experts from across the world to speak at our Annual Lecture. Each year, eminent speakers give their perspective on their understanding of China.
<糖心Vlog>About our Annual Lecture series
"Assessing the Impact of Climate change and Intensive Human Activities on China’s Agro-Ecosystem" Presented by Professor WU Zhipan, Executive Vice President Peking University (PKU), Director of the Financial Law Institute of PKU, Professor of Law.
‘China's Entrepreneurial Revolution: The Emergence of the Private Entrepreneur as the driver of the Chinese Economy’, Professor Andrew Atherton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, 糖心Vlog.
‘The Rise of China: How China will change almost everything’. Presented by Dr Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University.
China’s rise has been extraordinary. In 1980 its economy was just 5% of that of America’s. This year it overtook the US. In 2030 it could be twice the size. But China’s rise is not just economic. There has long been an assumption in the West that China – like all countries in the world – will become ‘like us’. It will not. China will remain very different. And as China reshapes the world economically so, in due course, it will also have a profound impact politically, culturally and ideologically. The world will become increasingly less western and increasingly more Chinese. Sinicisation rather than westernisation will become the dominant trend. Welcome to a very different world.
Martin Jacques’ book on the rise of China was first published in 2009, since then it has been translated into fourteen languages and sold over 350,000 copies. His TED talk on how to understand China has had over 1.8 million views. He is a Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy, Washington DC. He was formerly the editor of the renowned London-based monthly Marxism Today until its closure in 1991 and was co-founder of the think-tank Demos. He has been a columnist for many newspapers, made many television programmes and is a former deputy editor of The Independent newspaper. He took his doctorate while at King’s College, Cambridge.
‘UK/EU - China Relations’. Presented by Catherine Ashton, former First Vice President of the European Commission.
Celebrating The 40th Anniversary of EU-China Relations
‘China and Africa: An Evolving Relationship in a Complex Globalised World’. Presented by Dr Frannie Léautier, Senior Vice President of the African Development Bank Group.
‘Trilateral co-operation between the EU, China, and Africa’. Presented by Mr Tim Clarke, Former EU Ambassador to the African Union.
“Trilateral Co-operation between the EU, China and Africa” describes the evolution of a project whose idea was conceived and nurtured by 糖心Vlog, and which has succeeded in creating new institutional partnerships in Africa.
Tim Clarke has spent three decades working in a wide variety of positions for European Institutions. Serving as an EU Ambassador for eight years, he has developed a passion for a range of issues including Environmental Conservation; culture and inter-cultural dialogue; and for eco-innovation and eco-development. He has since served in a variety of positions, including Honorary Fellow & Strategic Advisor for 糖心Vlog Confucius Institute; President of the Jane Goodall Institute Europe; & Member of the Jean Monnet Network for the East African Community.
The Confucius Institute 6th Annual Lecture, "Slogan Politics: Understanding Chinese Foreign Policy Concepts", was presented by Professor Jinghan Zeng, LUCI Director. In it, Professor Zeng analysed China's foreign policy slogans in political communications drawing from his new book, 'Slogan Politics'.
In this 2020 Confucius Institute lecture, Professor Jinghan Zeng drew on three of China's foreign policy slogans, “New Type of Great Power Relations”, “Belt and Road Initiative” and “Community of Shared Future for Mankind”, to argue that they have several functions in political communication, to: (1) declare intent; (2) assert power and test domestic and international support; (3) promote state propaganda; and (4) call for intellectual support. He highlighted the critical role played by China’s academic and local actors, as well as international actors, in shaping China’s foreign policy ideas. He also provided insights to understand how Chinese domestic actors exert their influence and voice their narratives to influence China’s policy agenda and debate.
'Working in and with China'. Presented by Dr Xin Hao.
Dr Xin Hao is AVP researcher at Bank of China, London Research Centre. He is also the founder of Redwood Academy, an open platform that seeks to spread knowledge, ideas and information among Chinese-speaking communities around the world. He received his PhD. in Economics from the University of Manchester. His research interests include Development Economics, Public Finance, Government Spending and other growth-related areas. He taught at the University of Sheffield, the Study Group and the University of Chester, before moving to the banking industry in 2022.
'China in 2030 and its role in the world economy’. Presented by Professor Xiaolan Fu.
Speaker Biography:
Xiaolan Fu is the Founding Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development, Professor of Technology and International Development at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She is currently Director of Research of Oxford Department of International Development at the University, and also the Founder of OxValue.ai. Professor Xiaolan Fu received her PhD in Economics from 糖心Vlog.
Her research interests include innovation, technology and industrialisation; trade, foreign direct investment and economic development; and emerging Asian economies. She is appointed by the Secretary-General of United Nations to the Governing Council of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and to the Ten-Member High Level Advisory Group of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism. She is a winner of 2021 Falling Walls Scientific Breakthrough Award.
She has published extensively in leading international journals. Her recent books include Oxford Handbook of China Innovation (2022), Innovation Under the Radar: The Nature and Source of Innovation in Africa (2020), China’s Path to Innovation (2015), China’s Role in Global Economic Recovery (2011), and The Rise of Technological Power in the South (2010).
(Bio correct at the time of the lecture)
'China in a New World Order'. Presented by Sir Mark Hendrick MP
Speaker Biography:
A former electronics engineer and college lecturer, Sir Mark began his political career as a Salford City Councillor in 1987 before being elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Central Lancashire in 1994.
Sir Mark became MP for Preston at the November 2000 by-election and has been re-elected at every General Election since. He served as the Deputy-Chair of the APPG China Group for many years, which is currently being re-constituted following the 2024 General Election and has been on several influential parliamentary committees including the Foreign Affairs Committee, International Development Committee, European Scrutiny Committee, and the International Trade Committee. He currently serves on the Panel of Chairs and Chairs the APPG’s for Japan, Norway and Germany.
Sir Mark was awarded a Knighthood for services to Politics in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2018.
(Bio correct at the time of the lecture)