Post-colonialism Backfires: Be Proud of My Chinese Name Please?

By Flair Shi, Currently Studying Comparative Literature (MA) at University College London, Graduate of the School of English University of Nottingham Ningbo, BA in English Language and Literature. As Walter Benjamin poignantly points out in his essay “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man”, the philosophy of language surely starts from the …

A place where everything is held in the okay

By Abigail Aikins-Hawkson, MSci Business and Economy of Contemporary China. Chopsticks simply refuse to fit in my hand as well as a knife and fork does and in between wanting a hot cup of PG tips and needing it, I have come to realise, better yet understand, that comfort zones are comfortable for a reason. …

The Changing State of English Education in China

By Daryl Johnson, PhD student in Applied Linguistics, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. English language has a tempestuous place in Chinese history. During and shortly after the Opium Wars, English was seen as the language of ‘barbarians’ and later during the Cultural Revolution, it was the language of the enemy capitalists and a symbol …

Nǐhǎo Shìjiè: Hello World

By Lucy Kirkup, Studying Modern Languages with Business at the University of Nottinham UK. When Brits travel abroad the stereotype is that they are pretty lazy when it comes to learning languages. I must admit that this generalisation has some truth to it. However, being a student of languages myself, I despair when I think …

Life in China in comparison to other places that I have visited

By Harvinder Singh Sandhu, Studying Finance, Accounting and Management at the University of Nottingham UK. Ni Hao! Having completed my second year of study at the University of Nottingham, I felt that this was my last opportunity to travel abroad to study in a different country. When I heard about the opportunity of a two-week …