General Highlights:

Education
Adult Language & Studio Classes ~ Spring Classes Start April 14, 2014
China Institute offers a wide range of Language and Studio Classes. In the language program, we offer well-designed and student-centered Mandarin classes to adult learners at every proficiency level, from beginner to advanced. Students can choose a course from a wide variety of scheduling options, including mornings, during lunch-hours, or evenings, as well as on weekdays and weekends.

In the adult studio program, we continue to offer our long-standing and well-received art and culture courses, including Chinese calligraphy, brush painting and Taijiquan.

In the calligraphy class, students learn and practice brush strokes in a meditative, relaxed atmosphere. They are also introduced to the artistic and etymological tradition of Chinese character writing, which is an important key to understanding and appreciating Chinese art, history and culture. Brush painting classes provide training in the fundamentals of this traditional genre of painting, its principles, techniques, subject matters and styles on different themes of landscapes, bird-and-flower paintings, insects and fish, etc. Participants in the Taijiquan class will learn the philosophy and movements of the Yang-style taijiquan：a short form of sixty postures developed by Grandmaster William C.C. Chen. Advanced students will learn the long form of the Yang style, which develops core strength.

Chinese Ethnic Dance Workshop Series ~ Starts March 30, 2014
Join us for this popular dance workshop series led by our beloved dance instructor Ling Tang. Designed for children ages 5-13, participants will have a unique chance to explore the diverse ethnic cultures of China through dance movements in an exciting environment. More...

2014 Children's Summer Program ~ Registration OPEN!
Make your child's summer a fun-filled experience by enrolling in the Children's Summer Program at China Institute. Designed for children ages 3 to 9, the Children's Summer Program offers instruction of Chinese language and culture in an exciting and interactive environment. Language instruction is led by experienced Chinese language teachers. Additionally, children will participate in various cultural activities, such as Chinese folk dance, theatrical performances, arts and crafts, storytelling, and cooking. Friday field trips to many New York City child-friendly institutions will give your child a chance to enjoy the summer sun. More...

Legends of China ~ Outreach Workshops
China Institute is offering a brand new outreach program for elementary school students that we can bring to your school or institution. Our Spring 2014 program, Legends of China, is a series of interactive workshops that has been designed to vibrantly retell five famous Chinese stories through an array of amusing exercises. Taught by our experienced teaching artists, these workshops aim to enrich and deepen students' understanding of Chinese culture by approaching each story through a different lens of Chinese culture, such as art, music, dance and other movement-based arts. We offer individual workshops and we can work with you to develop a unique multipart program. More...

Mandarin for Future Mandarin Teachers（MFMT）~ Registration OPEN!
Mandarin for Future Mandarin Teachers（MFMT）was established in 2006 through Confucius Institute at China Institute（CI@CI）, a partnership between China Institute and East China Normal University（ECNU）, located in Shanghai. This summer program provides scholarships for a select group of pre-service and in-service Chinese language teachers to take professional development courses taught by distinguished ECNU professors who are leading scholars in their respective fields. More...

Gallery
Inspired by Dunhuang：Re-creation in Contemporary Chinese Art ~ Through June 8, 2014
Like the old masters before them, modern and contemporary luminaries, such as Zhang Daqian, Zhang Hongtu, Liu Jude, Liu Dan, and Yu Hong, have sought inspiration from Dunhuang's ancient sculptures and murals. Inspired by Dunhuang presents the breathtaking results of their painstaking and creative efforts, which capture the experience of Dunhuang in ways that are powerfully transformative. With its carefully curated group of paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, photographs, and mixed media installations that encompass a variety of themes and forms, this exhibition is a pioneering exploration of the historical, literary, artistic, and conceptual nature of the inspiration and influence exerted by Dunhuang's thousand-year-old tradition on contemporary artistic creation. Organized by China Institute Gallery, this exhibition is curated by Willow Weilan Hai, Director of China Institute Gallery, and Jerome Silbergeld, the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History, the Chair of the Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University, and the Director of Princeton's Tang Center for East Asian Art. More...

Asia Week 2014：Open House at China Institute Gallery ~ March 18, 2014
Enjoy an intimate evening of dialogue with curators and artists, exploring our current exhibition, Inspired by Dunhuang：Re-creation in Contemporary Chinese Art. Light refreshments will be served. More...

Programs & Events
China Impact Speaker Series：Simon Luk and Clarence Kwan ~ March 6, 2014
Please join Winston & Strawn and China Institute for an interactive discussion focused on the latest developments in doing business in China. This timely presentation will feature a discussion of the following hot button issues：Shanghai pilot free trade zone, due diligence in China, and outbound investment from China. More...

Author Talk & Book Signing：Wish You Happy Forever with Jenny Bowen ~ March 11, 2014
There are more than one million orphans in China. One child policies, poverty in rural settings, abandonment and parental death contribute to the growing number of orphans in Chinese foster care — especially young girls. When Jenny Bowen read an article about the state of orphans in China, she and her husband were inspired to take action. Wish You Happy Forever：What China's Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains chronicles her personal and professional mission to improve the lives of Chinese orphans. After adopting daughter Maya, Bowen continued her quest by establishing the Half the Sky Foundation with a goal to bring love to all Chinese orphans. Since its establishment in 1998, the organization has worked tirelessly to alter orphanage and foster care practices by training and educating child welfare workers and establishing youth centers in more than 50 orphanages. Wish You Happy Forever chronicles this inspirational journey, efforts at government lobbying and the potentially bright future in store for all of China's orphans. More...

Lecture – Nushu：The Secret Language with Yajun Qu and Dr. Congming Ma ~ April 11, 2014
In this lecture Yajun Qu, Director of Xi'an's Women's Culture Museum, and Dr. Congming Ma, professor of Journalism and Communication at Shaanxi Teachers' University, will reveal some of the fascinating stories of how and why the only known language used solely by women was developed in China hundreds of years ago.

Nushu is a written script that was invented and is used exclusively by women in a region of Hunan province. Because women did not have access to formal education in the feudal era, this script was developed as a means of secret communication and passed down between generations. It was little known outside the area until scholars "discovered" it in the 20th century. Though its use is dwindling there has been a revival of interest in recent years; Tan Dun composed a symphony inspired by Nushu and the language is featured prominently in Lisa See's novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Yajun Qu and Dr. Congming Ma will explore the history of Nushu and illustrate how its unique calligraphy was used with fans and embroidered handkerchiefs from the Women's Culture Museum. Join us as these esteemed scholars illuminate this captivating piece of China's cultural history. More...

Special Events
China Institute Gala 2014 ~ May 30, 2014
China Institute is pleased to announce that I. M. Pei, Founder of I. M. Pei & Associates, and Chien Chung Pei, Chairman of China Institute and Co-Founder of Pei Partnership Architects; Michelle Kwan, Advisor and Public Diplomacy Envoy at the U.S. Department of State and two-time Olympic figure skating medalist; Shen Wei, a director, choreographer of the 2008 Beijing Olympic ceremony, and Founder of Shen Wei Dance Arts, have been chosen as Blue Cloud Award recipients for the 2014 China Institute Gala. We look forward to an especially festive evening celebrating these four outstanding individuals, as well as the 88th Anniversary of the founding of China Institute.

The Gala will be held at Gotham Hall in New York City in the spring of 2014. For further details, please contact Leslie A. McDonald at 212.744.8181, ext. 139 or lmcdonald@chinainstitute.org.

Renwen Society
Lecture：Poems and Calligraphy of Two Literary Masters - Du Fu and Su Shi ~ March 1, 2014
Mr. Li Guangcheng, an accomplished calligrapher from Sichuan, whose works are among the collections at many museums and institutions in China, will discuss the poems and calligraphy of two literary masters：Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty and Su Shi of the Song Dynasty, who also hailed from Sichuan Province. More...

Lecture：Chinese Historical Figures 1966 – 1976 ~ March 30, 2014
Professor Xu Weixin, who recently completed his tenure as the Dean of the School of Art at Renmin University in Beijing, is a renowned scholar and oil painter. His series Chinese Historical Figures 1966 – 1976 consists of over 100 oil paintings memorializing the famous and the ordinary, the brave and the unfortunate, the victims and the perpetrators from the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. The series was exhibited in Beijing’s Today Art Museum and elsewhere and had a great impact amongst Chinese artists. At this lecture illustrated by slides, Professor Xu will relate his experience creating the series. More...