Cardiff-BNU joint symposium marks milestones in language, culture, and research collaboration
7 November 2025
On 24 June, Cardiff University and Beijing Normal University (BNU) co-hosted a joint online symposium to mark a significant milestone in their collaboration.
The event, Multiple Perspectives and Approaches to Language and Culture – Chinese, China and Beyond, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the strategic partnership and the 10th anniversary of the Cardiff-BNU Joint Chinese College, with high-level delegations from both institutions attending the opening and closing ceremonies.
The symposium brought together scholars from diverse disciplines to explore language and culture through interdisciplinary lenses. This hybrid event attracted over 200 registrations from 15 countries across Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia, with 160 delegates participating online and 40 attending in person. A total of 40 authors from 14 universities presented at the symposium, including four keynotes and six panels. A PDF programme details all presentations.
Building on its success, one of the panels evolved into a follow-up event held on 25 June, titled Developing Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The follow-up event was attended by over 65 participants and speakers, both online and in-person. These included, externally, four keynote speakers from the UK, the US and China, including a Postgraduate Research team based in Beijing Normal University. Internally, colleagues and PGR students from within the Colleges of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Physical Sciences and Engineering were in attendance.
In addition to the research networks, the event created links with important heritage organisations such as the Confucius Institute and the Welsh National Museum.
The follow-up session also serves as a Cynnau | Ignite project, supporting the development of a positive research culture at Cardiff University and fostering deeper international academic collaboration. Cynnau | Ignite is a leadership development programme for researchers and professional, technical and specialist colleagues who enable research activity at Cardiff University.
Funded by Wellcome Trust, this unique programme focuses on enabling people to demonstrate leadership about positive research culture by building participants’ skills, knowledge, and community connection.
The symposium’s panels and presentations included:
- Signs, affect and meaning making in Chinese linguistic landscapes
- Theoretical and experimental linguistics of Chinese
- Teaching, learning and Chinese applied linguistics
- Chinese language and culture: past and future
- Narrative, cultural power and literary innovation in Chinese Literature
The keynote speeches were:
- Rethinking language and culture education for a reglobalising world – Dr Derek Hird (Lancaster University)
- The value of Chinese writing studies in early world writing classification – Professor Qi Yuantao (Beijing Normal University)
- What looks native-like may not necessarily be native-like: evidence from L2 Chinese covert objects – Professor Yuan Boping (University of Cambridge and Shanghai Jiaotong University)
- Semantic implications of ‘heartless’ and mysticism controversy – on Qian Zhongshu’s critique of Chapter Five of Annotations on Laozi by Wang Bi – Professor Qian Han (Beijing Normal University)
Dr Xuan Wang, Reader in Chinese Studies and Sociolinguistics in the School of Modern Languages, praised the event.
It is a true joy to gather for the first Cardiff-BNU Chinese symposium as we celebrate our ten years of successful strategic partnership through the joint programme of BA Modern Chinese. This event is not only a tribute to our shared achievements, but also to the friendships, inspiration, and spirit of collaboration in both education and research that have made this journey so remarkable.
In this video, Dr Nick Parsons, retired Reader from Cardiff School of Modern Languages, and the Former Dean of the Cardiff-BNU Joint College, discussed the success of the programme and the opportunities it has provided, alongside alumni, Kelsey McKue (graduated in 2023) and Oliver Hassan (graduated in 2025).
BNU’s Vice President Professor Kang Zhen also commended students on their academic achievements and cultural integration. He encouraged them to embrace their cross-cultural experiences and act as bridges between China and their home countries, promoting mutual understanding.
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