DMU CI Supports Research Team in Delivering Chinese Cultural Workshops

From November to December, the Confucius Institute at De Montfort University, invited by the Talent 25 research team of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, delivered a series of three parent–child workshops on Chinese culture. The research project, funded by Arts Council England, aims to observe how cultural elements influence early childhood development through interactive family activities. The research team invited the Confucius Institute to participate following the positive community response to previous programmes such as the Children’s Summer KungFu Camp.

The workshops featured a range of representative Chinese cultural experiences combining movement and creativity. Volunteer teachers led participant families in a t warm-up exercise to help children engage and encourage parent-child coordination. In the subsequent Wuqinxi session, teachers demonstrated movements inspired by the tiger, deer, bear, monkey, and bird, which children then imitated with parental support to experience the basics of traditional Chinese health exercises.

 

Interactive activities included Hot Potato Game and parent-child ping-pong relays, designed to encourage family interaction through play. The quieter components featured Peking Opera mask colouring and pictographic character art. Teachers introduced the cultural context and guided children to create their own interpretations, enabling hands-on engagement with diverse Chinese cultural symbols.

 

Across the three sessions, approximately 80 children aged 2 to 7 and their families took part. The research team noted that the Confucius Institute’s programme offered strong cultural elements and valuable field material for the study, and expressed hope for continued collaboration in the future.