Confucius Institute To Open At UM

A chapter of the Confucius Institute will open at the University of Michigan on Thursday, Nov. 5.

The day's events will culminate at 7:30 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium, where members of the Chinese Ensemble of Renmin University of China will present a remarkable performance of Chinese music, featuring internationally renowned pipa artist Yang Wei.

The concert will be preceded at 1:30 p.m. by the Institute's inaugural lecture by Martin Powers, who will address "De-familiarizing the Exotic: Appreciating the Arts of China in the 21st Century." Powers, the Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures, will deliver his remarks in the Stern Auditorium of the UM Museum of Art. The concert and lecture are free and open to the public. 

Noted for its refined and delicate tone, the pipa is a four-stringed pear-shaped wooden instrument that has been played for nearly 2,000 years in China. Pipa virtuoso, Yang Wei, has performed for and inspired audiences throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States. Since 2000, he has toured with the celebrated Silk Road Project, performing alongside legendary cellist Yo Yo Ma. In the United States, Wei has performed at the Ravinia International Music Festival, Lincoln Center, and the Chicago Symphony Center.

Members of the Chinese Ensemble of Renmin University of China also will travel to Ann Arbor to celebrate the opening of the Confucius Institute. This award-winning orchestra, whose members hail from many different departments throughout Renmin University, has been popularizing traditional music since its founding, enabling growing numbers of people to become familiar with and enjoy traditional Chinese music. Members of the orchestra also offer free classes to students who want to learn to play musical instruments. In February 2009, the orchestra won first prize (musical instruments group) at the Second National Arts Exposition and Performance for University Students in Nanjing, China.

"The Confucius Institute at UM is unique among the 60 Confucius Institutes in the United Sates, in that we will serve as the national repository on Chinese arts and culture for the entire network," said Lester Monts, senior vice provost of academic affairs. "Drawing on the University's vast interdisciplinary China resources, CI at UM will significantly advance China-related opportunities within the University community and well beyond.

Rackham Auditorium is at 915 E. Washington St., Sterns Auditorium in the UM Museum of Art is at 525 S. State St., and the institute itself is at 715 N. University St., Suite 201, all in Ann Arbor.

More at www.confucius.umich.edu.

The network of more than 60 Confucius Institutes at universities around the U.S. -- and more than 300 worldwide -- seeks to strengthen educational cooperation with China, develop Chinese language education, and increase intercultural understanding with the peoples of China. The network has developed in collaboration with the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) in Beijing, a branch of the Chinese Ministry of Education.