Beech Tree News Network

 Butler County High School (BCHS) Chinese class students visited Confucius Institute (CI) at Western Kentucky University (WKU) Wednesday, September 27th, 2017. 32 students with their Chinese teacher and chaperone, Mr. Weipeng Lin, and Mr. Jeff Jennings visited the Chinese Exhibition Center (CEC) and Chinese Learning Center (CLC) at the Mobile CI on WKU campus.

In the CEC, students were introduced to traditional Chinese costumes, Chinese porcelain, Chinese medicine, Chinese musical instruments, Chinese food culture, Chinese education, Chinese history, among others. Apart from CEC, students visited the newly-constructed Mobile CI building and garden. In the CLC, students experienced hands-on Chinese culture by practicing Chinese calligraphy and Chinese origami. Students used four treasures of Chinese study, namely Chinese brush, calligraphy ink, calligraphy paper, and ink stone, to write. Some students practiced writing their Chinese names with calligraphy. Besides, students learned how to paper fold roses and Pikachu in the CLC classroom.  

Students were all amazed by what they had seen, experienced, and learned through this trip. Camryn said, “I learned a lot, and there were so many cultural things I found interesting.” Many students were very interested in Chinese medicine. Janice said, “I thought it was cool how they used such natural medications and they worked so well.”

This school year is the third year for BCHS to offer Chinese class. Currently, there are 40 students in the Chinese class with 23 enrolled in the dual credit program.

CI at WKU is mainly composed of CEC and CLC. According to Mr. Martin, Managing Director of CI at WKU, CEC was established on May 20, 2011, and CLC was unveiled on May 5, 2017. CLC at Mobile CI is the first of its kind in the United States. Since CI’s inception, more than 80,000 individuals have toured the CEC, and more than 15,000 students from K-12, university, and community individuals visit CI each year.