Record number of students head to Shanghai

Irish students will attend marital arts and origami classes as part of one of the country’s largest ever student exchange trips to China.

Some 90 transition-year students from 32 schools across the country will spend the next two weeks immersed in Chinese culture as part of a visit organised by University College Cork and Shanghai University.

As well as attending Chinese language classes, the students will enjoy cultural outings, including practical martial arts, paper cuttings and calligraphy.

They will also have time to explore the immense city of Shanghai, one of the world’s most populous cities, and the neighbouring cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou.

And one parent was so impressed with the itinerary of the Easter Camp programme to Shanghai that he decided to pay his own way and travel with the group from Cork Airport on Tuesday.

Professor Fan Hong, the director of the School of Asian Studies, the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies and the Confucius Institute at UCC, said demand for places on the trip was extraordinary.

“Beyond the enthusiasm demonstrated by the students themselves, many of their parents were incredibly eager to give their sons and daughters an opportunity they never had — to experience Chinese culture and society first-hand.

“A series of visits to some of the 20-plus schools across Shanghai will not only allow the students to actively practice their Chinese, it will also nurture lifelong friendships and mutual understanding between Ireland and China.”

During the trip, the delegation will attend the Irish Consulate in Shanghai for a discussion on relations between Ireland and China.

The trip is jointly organised by the UCC Confucius Institute, the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies at UCC and Shanghai University, and sponsored by the headquarters of the Confucius Institute (Hanban) in Beijing.

Between two and five students are travelling from each school. All the students were drawn from those studying the Chinese culture and language module as part of transition year and nominated by their respective schools.

Prof Hong, Prof Mary Ruane, Yongbin Xia and tutors from the UCC Confucius Institute, as well as teachers from some of the schools, are accompanying the student.