News and events

Sanxingdui and Jinsha - Academic Symposium and Exhibition

Explore the extraordinary Bronze Age civilizations of southwest China in this rare exhibition that brings the story of the legendary Sanxingdui and Jinsha discoveries to Oxford, featuring stunning artefact replicas, immersive AR experiences, and accounts of Sino-British archaeological exchange.

Exhibition - Open to visit

8-10 November 2025, Outreach Room, New Library, Tim Gardam Building, St Anne’s College, Oxford

12-22 November 2025, Headington Hill Hall, Music Room, Oxford Brookes University

The archaeological site of Sanxingdui was first discovered in 1927 at Guanghan, Sichuan province, southwest China. The site is recognized as one of China's most significant archaeological discoveries, revealing a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization. The site of Jinsha at Qingyang, discovered in 2001, is of equal importance and together they help to unravel the enigma of the ancient Shu civilization. The discoveries constitute the core evidence of this Bronze Age culture.

“The uniqueness of Sanxingdui is unlike anything I have ever seen. Some cultural relics reflect not the specific life of the people of Sanxingdui at that time, but their ideological world and imaginary world, which is completely different from our real world.’ ”

Dame Jessica Rawson, Oxford University

Past events

2025

6 October - Yao Emei in conversation with Angus Phillips about her newly translated novel The Unfilial
15 January - Chinese New Year festival show to celebrate the year of the snake at the Oxford Playhouse
3 April - Oxford Literary Festival with Mai Jia. Mai Jia is one of China’s most famous spy thriller authors. His novel The Message was cast as a major motion picture in 2007. Jia’s spy novels are all set during the Republican Period (1913-1949). His books include In the Dark and Decoded – described by the Telegraph as one of ‘the 20 best spy novels of all time’.
9 June - China on your plate seminar by Professor Zhai Zheng from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Brookes staff and students were given the chance to explore the delicacies and wonders of Chinese cuisine, whilst also enjoying some Chinese snacks from St Celements' Rachel's.
10 June - Mandarin Excellence Programme Day. This day is hosted annually at Oxford Brookes University and gives students in and around Oxfordshire the chance to explore higher education and how their Mandarin Language learning journey can benefit their future careers. This year Professor Zhai Zheng from Beijing Foreign Studies University gave a lecture on Chinese Festivals to the students.
15 June - 29 June - Publishing and Journalism students from Oxford Brookes University went on a two week academic trip to the Beijing Book Fair. This trip involved lectures, classes and exploring the fascinating tourist destinations of Beijing and Anyang.
6 October - Yao Emei visited Oxford for a book launch and disccussion on her newly translated and published book The Unfilial.

2024

2023

January 2023 Launched a new workshop series for schools, Ni Hao, China!
2 February Refreshers' Fair and Chinese New Year at Oxford Brookes Celebration with peach blossom workshops and kung fu and Lion Dance displays.
26 February Held our second Mandarin Corner Social for Chinese language learners.
28 March Welcomed photographer Patrick Dransfield for his talk, Young Photographer in Old Beijing
30 March Invited award winning author R. F. Kuang to attend the Oxford Literary Festival with an event in conversation with Professor Angus Phillips, CIOBU Director.
18-20 April London Book Fair
18 April An Adventure with Pandas: A live, virtual visit to the Panda Park in Chengdu for UK primary school students.
5 July Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) day! On this day we welcomed 4 schools from Oxfordshire to take part in a variety of Chinese culture classes, as well as learning about their language learning journeys.
17 October Sinoist Roadshow: Our Confucius Institute welcomed award-winning and bestselling Chinese authors Liu Zhenyun and Liang Hong to Oxford Brookes University! The event was held in Chakrabarti lecture theatre with over 80 attendees and was chaired by our Director Angus Phillips.

2022

30 March Invited Chinese-British Author Xiaolu Guo to attend the 25th Oxford Literary Festival, taking part in an event with CIOBU Director, Professor Angus Phillips.
China Lecture: Life and Work, Xiaolu Guo Interviewed by Angus Phillips.
5 May Looking behind the curtain: from translation to publication. Author Xiang Jen Yao, translator Robert Hall and editor Angela Koo to celebrate the English edition of The Art of Chinese Living (2022).
31 May Dragon Boat Festival at the Bodleian Library, making paper zongzi, dragons and jumping frogs, and taking part in some calligraphy and Chinese character games.
2 September Line and Texture: The Photography of Nancy Sheung at Museum of East Asian Art, curated by Dr Michael Pritchard, photographic historian, and Director of Programmes at the Royal Photographic Society, Bristol. The exhibition was supported by the Confucius Institute, Oxford Brookes University.
Line and Texture: The Photography of Nancy Sheung
22 September Discovering Sanxingdui, held in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, an online event showcasing the incredible artifacts and discoveries of the ancient Chinese kingdom of Shu at the Sanxingdui museum in Sichuan, China.
Watch Discovering Sanxingdui
29 October Joined the Oxford Brookes University Science Bazaar with workshops in Chinese language and Five Animal Tai Chi, and drop in opportunities to practice calligraphy while getting a personalised Chinese name bookmark.
1 December A Fantastic Tour of Sanxingdui, held in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University for students primary and secondary school students studying Mandarin, focusing on the mysterious and magnificent discoveries unearthed at Sanxingdui in China.

2021

2020

18 February, Hosted the Chinese New Year Show at the Oxford Playhouse for the third year, and over 600 people attended this event including Lord Mayor of Oxford Craig Simmons and Professor Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. Korky Paul, the well-known illustrator of Winnie the Witch, was invited to attend the event and sign sold copies of his new book Winnie and Wilbur at Chinese New Year before the show and during the interval.
17 March, all Chinese courses turned online due to the coronavirus pandemic, right after the Oxford Brookes University announced that all face-to-face teaching on the campus should be stopped.
21 April, Held the first online Tai Chi taster, which was fully booked. The online Tai Chi lessons started from 28 April 2020.
14 May-16 July, Co-organised with Macmillan Education and FLTRP to organise a webinar series on the topic of “Teaching Online and Online Teaching: Transition, Principles, Technology and Practice for Chinese Language Teachers”.
10-19 August, CIOBU students attended the first online summer camp organised by the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).
30 October, Initiated a pilot survey on online Chinese course development in the UK, in which 12 Chinese teachers from UK Higher Education Institutions were interviewed.

2019

2018

18 March, Invited Chinese author Su Tong to attend the 22nd Oxford Literary Festival for a talk, and CIOBU Director Angus Phillips interviewed Su Tong at the Weston Lecture Theatre, the University of Oxford.
24 March, Zeqo Lorida, a master student from the Business School of Oxford Brookes University, represented CIOBU to take part in the 17th Chinese Bridge Competition held in the UK and won third prize in the final.
12-13 April, Co-organised the 2018 Oxford International Publishing Symposium with the Oxford International Centre for Publishing.
30 June, Attended the Oxford Festival of Arts for the first time, holding two workshops on Chinese dance.
23 July, Held contemporary woodblock print exhibition named The Soul of the Black Earth, co-presented by CIOBU and Heilongjiang Provincial Museum of Art, at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University. A printmaking workshop was held before the exhibition preview.
Youtube: The Soul of the Black Earth Exhibition
16-30 August, Organised the first Publishing Students’ Summer Camp to attend the Beijing International Book Fair for Oxford Brookes publishing students.
25 October, Launched the exhibition The Door Opened: 1980s China Photography by Adrian Bradshaw at the Glass Tank, Oxford Brookes University.
Youtube: The Door Opened: 1980s China Photography Exhibition

2017

25 February, Hosted two amazing Chinese New Year performances at Pegasus Theatre, the first time for CIOBU to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the local community.
4-6 May, Invited Ken Hom, the famous TV Chinese Chef, to give a talk on Chinese food and demonstrate Chinese cooking at the Outburst Festival, along with paper folding and cutting workshops for families.
5-6 July, Hosted the European Chinese Language Teaching Conference at St Catherine’s College, attended by more than 100 Chinese language teachers.
9-22 July, Hosted its first summer school customised for Chinese publishers in partnership with the Oxford International Centre for Publishing.
6 December, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, Madame Liu Yandong gave a speech titled Deepening People to People Exchange and Boosting the Development of the Golden Era at the University of Oxford, over 100 CIOBU students and staff were invited to attend this important event.

2016

7 May, First public event, Light of Civilization at Pegasus Theatre.
4-15 July, Partnered with Oxford International Centre for Publishing to host the summer school programme for publishing professionals.
6 October, Held the exhibition preview of One Step One View: Architecture Design Exhibition by Pan Gongkai at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University.

2015

19 September, Agreement was signed to establish the Confucius Institute at Oxford Brookes University (CIOBU).
BBC: New Chinese education centre opens at Oxford Brookes University (English)
BBC: 习近平走后又一特色孔子学院英国落户 (Chinese)
24 October, CIOBU was officially established
24 October, Exhibition Wisdom from the East: Calligraphy Exhibition of Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture was held at the Glass Tank of Oxford Brookes University