"Beginning Chinese for Adults" Language Course
March 3rd through May 21, 2008

The Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh will begin the first evening Chinese language course for adult beginners during spring 2008, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh's main campus on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. This course will be taught by Ms. Xiaofang Ouyang, a visting scholar from Wuhan University.This course will be continuing in Fall 2008 as Beginning Chinese for Adults 2. Please view the course page for more information..

This course will be offered again in Fall 2008 as Beginning Chinese for Adults 1. Questions about this course may be directed to Mr. Yongfei Zhao, Special Projects Coordinator, via email to cipitt@pitt.edu.

The Confucius Institute, in partnership with the Asian Studies Center, is pleased to sponsor and promote Chinese cultural peformances and events in Western Pennsylvania. In March of 2008, CI-Pitt will be sponsoring a performance of a traditional Chinese opera by New York City's Chinese Theatre Works troupe, who will be performing two acts from the opera "The Peony Pavilion" (Mudan ting), a beloved tale of two lovers.

For more information about this performance and ticket sales, please view the event poster:

View "Peony Pavilion" event poster (JPG)

The Confucius Institute and Winchester Thurston School are proud to present the "Great Wall, Terrible Towel: Understanding China, Connecting to Pittsburgh" lecture series on China throughout spring 2008. This is a free, six-week lecture series focusing on the vital role China plays in the global community. Understanding China and its relevance to our own lives is essential to understanding world events as well as our own society’s future – locally and nationally. A number of distinguished academic and community leaders from the Pittsburgh area will be presenting on several topics of relevance to study and understanding of modern China.

View "Great Wall, Terrible Towel" lecture series schedule (PDF)

Lou Schwartz is a China trade expert and attorney who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, has lived in China, and has facilitated business deals there. In addition to providing business, legal and translation services to U.S. companies and institutions involved in trade with China, Dr. Schwartz has worked in Beijing with the Asian Development Bank, and has researched and analyzed developments in various Chinese industries, including non-ferrous metals and software.  He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and has written and lectured extensively on doing business in China, and on China’s legal system.

Chinese for Lawyers, taught by Dr. Schwartz, is a course in Mandarin Chinese in legal contexts offered through the University of Pittsburgh Law School’s Center for International Legal Education. Chinese for Lawyers acquaints students with the grammatical structures necessary for effective communication in Chinese, introduces basic legal and business vocabulary in Chinese and strives to give a sense of the cultural, legal, and business environments in China.

The course materials are organized as a series of dialogues written in Chinese characters, followed by the Pinyin romanization equivalent and an English translation. The materials are tied together as a story of an American lawyer who travels to the People’s Republic of China to negotiate and establish a joint venture on behalf of an American company.

The Confucius Institute is a proud sponsor of Chinese cultural programs at the University of Pittsburgh. In February 2008, the Confucius Institute was a cosponsor of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association's "Chinese Culture Exhibition Month," which included events related to promotion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chinese teahouses, movie showings, and a large celebration for the Spring Festival at Chinese New Year.

For further information on Confucius Institute-sponsored student events, please visit our News page.


Confucius Institute teachers at a Chinese calligraphy workshop