Chinese New Year

2021 marks the Chinese Year of the Ox – or in a unique Scottish twist – the Year of the Coo. Chinese New Year in Edinburgh has become the largest celebration of its kind in…

The rat has leapt, the ox has come, let’s welcome a brand new year! Due to coronavirus restrictions, the annual gala event will take place online instead of its established home at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall….

Australian ecological artist Lisa Roet’s inflatable Golden Monkey installations have previously scaled skyscrapers in Beijing and Hong Kong, but for Chinese New Year the Golden Monkey sculpture is back on the exterior of one of…

Canadian contemporary artist Ian Kirkpatrick brings his playful, life-size fusion of Highland Coo and Chinese Ox to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, as part of a special commission for Edinburgh’s Chinese New Year celebrations. Ian’s work explores…

Thu 18 Feb, 6.30pm. From pictographic symbols to today’s modern day Chinese characters, it has taken thousands of years for Chinese characters to evolve. This taster class organised by Heriot Watt University’s Confucius Institute for…

Fri 19 Feb. Heriot Watt Chinese language students Brodie Lawrence and Robin Wilson share their unconventional and fun methods of cooking traditional Chinese food with limited resources while living in lockdown.

Fri 19 Feb, 5.00pm. Organised by the Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh, join this fun-filled quiz and game session to learn more about the Chinese New year. Combining language and cultural…

Fri 26 Feb, 7.00pm. Enjoy the Lantern Festival with an amazing whisky tasting experience at home! This virtual experience will guide guests through a virtual tutored tasting led by one of the whisky experts from…

Fri 26 Feb. The last day of the Spring Festival is the Lantern Festival, this short video from Heriot Watt University’s Scottish Confucius Institute for Business and Communication introduces the different kinds of lanterns found…

Starts Tues 2 March, 10.00am. Explore Chinese soft brush and ink techniques and the world of bird-and-flower painting in this short five-week course. Bird-and-flower painting is a special kind of Chinese brush painting which has been…

Starts Wed 3 March, 10.00am. Explore Chinese soft brush and ink techniques and learn Chinese calligraphy in clerical script (隶书, lìshū) in this short five-week course. Clerical script is a traditional writing format developed more than…

19 April – 25 June. The Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh offers a range of Chinese language classes at all levels. With small class sizes and a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, our experienced…