On January 17, 2019, the plenary session of the Board of Confucius Academy was convened at the International Institute for Chinese Culture of Confucius Academy. XU Qi, Executive Chairman of Confucius Academy Academic Board and President of Guizhou Association of Philosophy, delivered the report on the work of Confucius Academy in 2018. SUO Xiaoxia, Director of the Cultural Communication Center of Guiyang Confucius Academy, presided over the meeting. Nearly 200 representatives from 39 council units attended the meeting.

Bringing out the Full Potential for Development

On January 26, 2018, “Bringing out the Full Potential for the Development of Confucius Academy” was included in the report on the work of the government of Guizhou Province; in February 2018, the General Office of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee and the General Office of People’s Government of Guizhou Province issued the Work Plan for Opinions on Implementing the Program of the Inheritance and Development of Fine Traditional Chinese Culture which proposed to “enhance the role of fine traditional Chinese culture in position consolidation, expand the function of Confucius Academy in education and training, integrate cultural resources of Wang Yangming’s philosophy in Guizhou, and build a national platform for the research of Wang Yangming’s philosophy”.

More Than 600 Lectures Held

In 2018, Confucius Academy witnessed a solid break of the number of public lectures on traditional culture above 600 to a high of 670, with the audience totaling nearly 270,000. Besides series lectures on “Yangming Culture”, “Aesthetic Meandering” and “Archaeological Studies”, new ones on “Culture of Appreciation of Folk Music”, “Reflection on Culture Soft Power”, “Traditional Chinese Ethics”, “Traditional Chinese Virtues” and “Appreciation of Ancient Chinese Characters” have been delivered and proved to be huge successes among the audience.

Ten lectures on history and culture for leading cadres in Guizhou Province were held, which attracted more than 4,000 leading cadres for participation. A total of 29 lectures of the lecture series have been held since the beginning on March 4th, 2016. Themed with the development of governance capacity and characterized by the integration of ancient and modern and Chinese and Western experience, the lecture is committed to building a high-grade, high-level and high-quality platform for the learning of leading cadres of Guizhou Province.

Over Four Million Participants in Various Events

In 2018, Confucius Academy held a series of activities, such as the Four Ceremonies of Confucius Academy, the celebration of Confucius birthday on September 28th, and “Our Festival” events during Spring Festival Temple Fair, Tomb Sweeping Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, which attracted more than 100,000 people to enjoy the cultural feast at Confucius Academy. Eleven concerts of traditional music of “Xi Shan Ta Ge” series of performances were held, with an audience of 12,000 people, while eight cultural exhibitions of “Xi Shan Han Ji” painting and calligraphy exhibitions attracted 73,000 visitors.

In September, Confucius Academy’ First Writing Ceremony, Coming-of-age Ceremony and Respecting the Elderly Ceremony were held at eight primary and secondary schools as well as vocational schools, nourishing early 6,000 students with Chinese etiquette culture. In October, “Cultural Journey through Action-Knowledge Guizhou of Confucius Academy” went out for the first time and entered Nanjing, Guangzhou and Chongqing to share new achievements in Guizhou culture with more than four million netizens nationwide through the combination of “cultural feast+ delegation of social media influencers+ live streaming”.

28 Institutions Settled down

In 2018, Confucius Academy officially signed a cooperation agreement with renowned Chinese universities, such as Tsinghua University and Southwest University. Up to now, 28 domestic and foreign institutions of higher education and academic organizations have signed contracts with Confucius Academy and settled down in the International Institute for Chinese Culture of Confucius Academy. In the same year, Confucius Academy won the honor of provincial “Model Base for Humanities and Social Sciences.”

In the past year, Confucius Academy held over 120 high-end academic conferences, including the Four Seasons Debate, the International Symposium on Axial Age and China, the Seminar on the Belt and Road Initiative and Regional Literature Arrangement, and the Summit on the Belt and Road Initiative Language Survey and Research, cultural workshops, as well as assemblies. Nearly 4,000 domestic and foreign cultural scholars studied, taught, and exchanged in Confucius Academy. In addition, both Chinese and foreign scholars were given the opportunity to apply for research projects on Sinology of Guizhou provincial philosophy and social science programs, and 34 such projects were approved in 2018.

The 300,000-word Annals of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy (2016)

In 2018, Confucius Academy completed the compilation of the 300,000-wordAnnals of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy (2016), which was published in December 2018. At the same time, the compilation of Annals of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy (2017) which was expected to be released in the first half of 2019kicked off. Besides, Studies of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy, a journal edited by Professor GUO Qiyong, Chairman of Confucius Academy Academic Board and the Yangming Studies Center of Wuhan University, has published three volumes.

In terms of studies of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy, Confucius Academy held academic conferences and workshops such as the 6th Knowledge-Action Forum and the International Conference on “Modern Transformation of East-Asian Confucianism” and “Wang Yangming’s Philosophy and Regional Cultural Construction”, and the “Summit Forum on Yangming Philosophy and Contemporary Development of Chinese Philosophy” which invited scholars of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy at home and aboard to focus on the contemporary values and transformation of Wang Yangming’s Philosophy.

Concerning the dissemination of Yangming Culture, various cultural events, including six lectures on Yangming Culture, ten performances of the historical play of Epiphany Mind, and twenty “Journal of Yangming Culture of Confucius Academy” allowed tens of thousands of visitors to experience the fascinating Yangming Culture.

Benevolence in Guizhou

In 2018, Confucius Academy launched “Benevolence in Guizhou”, a charity event to spread traditional culture, and brought charity cultural activities including lectures, workshops and performances to more than 6,000 prisoners in nine prisons and 3,600 students in six schools for left-behind children, taking care of special groups and promoting social harmony through practical actions.

In addition, the Art Troupe of Confucius Academy carried out public-interest cultural programs themed with “Courtesy, Morality, Ethics, and Goodness,” and presented over 700 performances in various regions of Guizhou throughout the year, bringing an exhausting feast of art to people in the province. The Institute of Traditional Culture of Modesty delivered 180 public courses and training sessions for teachers and organized 1,110 volunteer service activities to spread the positive power of culture.

The Documentary of Glamorous China

In November 2018, a series of documentaries, Charming Argentina and Charming China jointly produced by China Media Group and Argentine Radio and Television, was broadcast simultaneously on the national television stations of the two countries. Guiyang Confucius Academy was chosen as one of the filming locations in China by the Argentine production team to demonstrate the inheritance and education of traditional Chinese culture in the contemporary era in Charming China.

Confucius Academy also organized events for international students to experience traditional culture, which allowed 42 international students from 13 countries such as the UK, Germany and France to enjoy the fascinating traditional Chinese culture. It also co-organized international events, such as the 14th Meeting of China-Japan-Korea Forum on Cultural Exchanges and “Barnaul-Guizhou Exchange Program of China-Russia Youth Entrepreneurship Incubator “to contribute to the “going global” of Chinese culture.

National Research Practices Education Base for Primary and Secondary School Students

In September 2018, “Guizhou Rule of Virtue and Rule of Law Education Base for Juveniles” was inaugurated at Confucius Academy. In the following month, the Ministry of Education listed Confucius Academy as “National Research Practices Education Base for Primary and Secondary School Students.” In the past year, Confucius Academy worked with municipal education departments to deliver training of “Six Arts” (lyre-playing, chess, calligraphy, painting, poem and rites) and organize events to experience traditional culture, which engaged in more than 16,000 students from 150 schools.

Furthermore, a series of cultural events for teenagers, including the first children’s folk music competition “Looking for Inheritors of New Six Arts”, the event to promote reading on World Book Day of April 23rd, “Classics Chanting in the Back-to-school Season”, and a children’s art exhibition themed as “A Distinctive and Proud Art Student”, was successfully held and received enthusiastic response from teenagers and children.

“Top Ten Brand” of Cultural Industry in Guizhou Province

In November 2018, Confucius Academy was reputed as the “Top Ten Brand” of the cultural industry in Guizhou Province in 2018. Aiming to further promote the development of the cultural and creative undertakings, the first “Guizhou Confucius Academy Cup Cultural and Tourism Creative Design Competition” was held, providing a large number of developable IP resources for cultural and creative products of Confucius Academy, and receiving extensive attention from all walks of life.

2018 Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese AMI Journal in Humanities and Social Sciences

In November 2018, both the Chinese version and English version of Confucius Academy were included in the database by the Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese AMI Journal in Humanities and Social Sciences as the new journal and English journal respectively.

In the past year, Confucius Academy Book Company published 50 books with more than 10 million words, such as Database of Confucius Academy, series of Quotes of Kangxi Emperor to Educate Children, Sources from Traditions for Cultural Confidence, and Traditions of Law and Discipline Rite and Modern Rule of Law Series (the First Volume) sponsored by 2017 National Press Fund.

English Version Website of Confucius Academy

In September 2018, the English version website of Confucius Academy was officially launched. As the first English version website about traditional Chinese culture in Guizhou Province, it is designed to integrate resources of websites of Confucius Academy in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese and English and its WeChat official account, strengthen Guizhou’s capacity in cultural inheritance and enhance Guizhou’s ability in inter-cultural communication.

Currently, the WeChat official account of Confucius Academy has more than 100,000 subscribers. According to statistics of Qingbo Big Data, it has more global influence in WeChat than 92% official accounts. In 2018, Confucius Academy was always one of the top three departments of government administration in Guiyang regarding the index of WeChat official account.