posted by Stuart Burns, Schools and Learning Support Officer, 1+2 (Pan Tayside)

On Friday 19 February, Angus Council’s Confucius Classroom hub was launched with a blaze of colour and music, celebrating the cultures of China and Scotland. The ceremony, hosted by senior pupils Rebecca Cook and Kevin Shand, was conducted in both English and Mandarin to an invited audience of more than two hundred guests. Spectators were treated to music from the award-winning Carnoustie High School Brass Band followed by a song sung entirely in Mandarin by pupils Woodlands Primary School led by the Hanban teacher, Stephanie Sun.  One of the highlights of the morning was a performance by the Chonqing Chuanju theatre company who delighted the audience with their colourful spectacle, featuring some impressive acrobatics by one of their members balancing a lit candle on his head and the breath-taking antics of the mask-wearing face changer whose constantly changing appearance kept everyone baffled.

The launch of the Confucius Classroom hub included the recital of a poem in Mandarin, especially adapted from a Chinese song for the launch, entitled Scotland My Home and a rendition of Auld Lang Syne including a verse in Mandarin. Mr Limin Zhang, Depute Consul General of the Chinese Consulate extolled the virtues of building relationships between China and Scotland and welcomed the establishment of the independent hub in Angus. His presentation of toy pandas to the hosts was greeted with warm approval by the audience. The event culminated in the handing over of a plaque to mark the launch of the hub and the cementing of links between our two countries. As an independent hub we are now looking forward to giving even more youngsters the opportunity to learn about the language and culture of China, with five senior pupils excited by the prospect of attending an immersion
course this summer.