Science and Culture: Chinese Weeks at the Universität Heidelberg

Science and culture in China are the subjects of a series of events organised by Heidelberg University from 20 to 30 April 2010. The programme of the Chinese Weeks, which will take place for the first time in this form, encompasses lectures, films and a variety of other cultural events all of which the general public is cordially invited to attend. Information sessions and workshops provide an overview of cooperative academic ventures in conjunction with Chinese partner universities and are designed to encourage exchanges transcending the borders of individual disciplines and institutions. The opening of the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University will mark the beginning of Chinese Weeks. The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Germany, Wu Hongbo, will attend the ceremony on Tuesday, 20 April.

The university’s International Office in close conjunction with various faculties and the Confucius Institute devised the programme of the Chinese Weeks. The key topic is “Chinese Culture” and the events connected with it include a reading, a concert and a cultural evening, alongside lectures, films as well as qi gong and calligraphy workshops. A children’s event is also planned. Furthermore, the series of events provides information on studying and research opportunities in China for undergraduates, doctoral students and researchers. Joint Sino-German research projects are presented, notably in the sphere of economics and the environment. Other events of the Chinese Weeks like workshops and intercultural training address undergraduates and doctoral students.

Heidelberg University signed its first partnership agreement with China back in 1980. Since then it has embarked on an increasing number of cooperative agreements with Chinese universities involving a variety of joint research projects, exchanges for undergraduates and doctoral students, symposia and workshops. Alongside the Institute of Sinology and the cluster of excellence “Asia and Europe”, other disciplines and institutions figuring prominently in these cooperative research ventures are the life sciences, the earth sciences, physics, the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), medicine and theology.

In the framework of the Sino-German Year of Science, Scholarship and Education 2009/2010, there will be Chinese Weeks at over 40 German universities coordinated by the German Rectors’ Conference. For more information on the Chinese Weeks in Heidelberg and the full programme of events, go to www.uni-heidelberg.de/china-wochen.

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