On 25 October 2024, the Lancaster University Confucius Institute team were invited to run some Chinese arts and crafts activities for young people in Preston, UK as part of a celebration for National Care Leavers Week, hosted by Lancashire County Council.

Dr Guangqiong Li taught people how to create a Chinese knot, with the assistance of Lancaster University Chinese studies graduate, Jasprit. Attendees enjoyed making various colours of Chinese knots to take home and use as decorations.

Lancaster University Confucius Institute teacher, Yingzhen Lu, taught people how to write various greetings in Chinese on red paper using Chinese calligraphy brushes and ink. Yingzhen was assisted by Lancaster University student, Mojolaoluwa 菲菲, who is studying Chinese as an extra-curricular subject. The participants enjoyed learning how to say and write Chinese phrases such as ‘你好 – hello’， ‘圣诞节快乐 – merry Christmas’ and ‘福 – lucky’.

Participants also had the opportunity to make their own Chinese paper game ‘东南西北’ – East, South, West, North’, which involved folding paper to make a game and learning some Chinese characters to write on the paper.

There were approximately 50 attendees and for most people at the event, this was their first time learning about Chinese language and culture, many of the participants were eager to participate in the activities and enjoyed having a Chinese decoration to take home.

The Lancaster University Confucius Institute team were honoured to be part of the celebration for Care Leavers in Preston and would like to thank Lancashire County Council organising this event and inviting them to take part.