News

On 20 October, the Confucius Institute's Confucius Grand Auditorium was the venue for a public lecture on "Martial Arts Films in China: the Cinematic Tradition of Swords, Fists and Romance". The lecture was given by Dr Deimantas Valančiūnas, a researcher of cinema and popular culture in Asia at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies of Vilnius University, who gave a retrospective presentation of the martial arts genre from its origins to the present day.

As the autumn leaves turned golden in the last days of September, on 29 and 30 September, our Institute was also decorated with colours and blossoms as we celebrated the birthday of the great Chinese teacher, and philosopher Confucius.

On 8 September, Sinology students had a lot of fun at the Mid-Autumn Festival organised by our institute, which was celebrated in China this year on 10 September. This festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Moon Cake Festival, is celebrated every year on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, during the full moon.

With the summer in full swing, we invited people to an unforgettable experience for three evenings with Chinese artist Qi Xiaoting [Chi Shaoting], who has many years of experience in teaching Chinese painting and calligraphy.

This summer was special for our institute, because we organized a dreamed and long-planned children's summer camp. The camp operated in one shift this year - from June 27. until July 1.

In May 2022, the Confucius Institute of Vilnius University organised a series of three lectures on "Masterpieces of Chinese Art from the Collection of the National Bohdan and Varvara Chanenko Art Museum (Chanenko Museum)" by Marta Logvyn, art historian and expert in Chinese art, researcher at the Chanenko Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine). The lectures were held remotely.

Early spring is the best time to get to know and collect medicinal plants. That's why on 19 May we invited people to a lecture-discussion on "Herbal Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine and in Lithuania", where two expert herbalists presented the medicinal plants growing in May from their own perspectives. The lecture gave the audience the opportunity not only to hear, but also to learn how to correctly identify, collect and prepare herbs for use. The main focus was on the May herbs – dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), nettle (Urtica dioica) and ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria).

On 27 May, the last Friday of May, we invited everyone - students and friends - to visit our Institute. We dedicated this afternoon to learning about Chinese culture through Laozi wisdom and real Chinese tea.

20 April marked Chinese Language Day, established by the United Nations. Chinese Language Day celebrates multilingualism and cultural diversity. Chinese is renowned as one of the most complex languages, and this may be primarily because it has deep historical roots and has existed for thousands of years, and because the script has not changed that much since its original form.

To mark the occasion, we invited interested parties to listen to a public lecture on the Chinese language.

On 24 March, a public lecture on "The Bodhisattva Ideal in China: history and present" was given by Gediminas Giedraitis, a PhD student at the University of Eötvös-Loránd (Hungary) and a researcher on Chinese Buddhism. The lecture covered the establishment of Buddhism in China, the concept of bodhisattva, the basic concepts, as well as an overview of the fundamental texts of Mahayana Buddhism.

On 15 March, we opened the doors of the Confucius Institute of Vilnius University wide to the pro-gymnasiums of the capital. Seventh-graders from Vilnius Simon Daukantos pro-Gymnasium came to take part in the first educational programme organised this spring. This time, we offered three themes: ghosts and ancestor worship in China, an introduction to the martial arts of the Shaolin Monastery, and a short introductory lesson on Chinese characters.

Anyone interested in the Chinese philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism has probably wondered how they coexist together and what kind of debates arise between them. On 3^rd of March, Dr. Tadas Snuviškis, a researcher of Eastern philosophical systems and religions (Lithuanian Culture Research Institute), gave a public lecture entitled "Looking at Three Chinese Philosophies: The Polemics of Confucianism and Taoism with Buddhism" in which he discussed the basic characteristics of the three philosophies and the controversies that have emerged between them ever since Buddhism spread to China. 

The Confucius Institute at Vilnius University presents the project "The World of Daoist Ideas in Laozi Texts" and invites you to get acquainted with the teachings of one of the most famous Chinese sages Laozi (老子，Lǎozǐ), whose wisdom has not only been a major influence in shaping the Chinese worldview and culture, but also has influenced the whole region of East Asia, and has gained interest in other parts of the world. We have selected 20 of the sage's most famous quotes to be featured on posters and will share one of them with you every week on Facebook.

On 3^rd of February, a book presentation-discussion took place: "Christ and Confucius: an Educational Dialogue", which was attended by prof. rev. Romualdas Dulskis, dr. Vytis Silius (Sun Yat-sen University, China) and prof. Audrius Beinorius (Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University). During the event, books by prof. rev. Romualdas Dulskis were presented: “The Gospel of Confucius. The Confucian Way of Wisdom and Its Importance for Christianity” (2021) and “Confucius and Christ. The Confucian Vision of the Human Vocation for the Christian Context” (2018), participants discussed the main ideas of the books. 

Recently, we have been getting a lot of queries about what Taiwanese language is, and whether it is possible to communicate with them in standard Chinese. So, we continue our exploration of the Chinese language and introduce the differences between pǔtōnghuà 普通话 in mainland China and guóyǔ 國語 in Taiwan. Both pǔtōnghuà and guóyǔ are phonologically based on the Beijing dialect. There are slight differences in pronunciation, in the meanings of certain words and in characters.

On the last Friday before the Christmas holiday, we prepared a gift for our university’s 1st and 2nd year sinology students and invited them to the first distance calligraphy workshop. It seems that in times of pandemic we are already used to studying and working remotely, but trying calligraphy is both a new experience and perhaps another incentive to improve.

Since ancient times, Chinese have been concerned about happiness. The concept of happiness is a crucial part of Chinese religion, which is clearly seen in Chinese superstitions, fateful numbers, signs of happiness and so on. According to Confucianism, the concept of happiness in Chinese culture is adherence to the moral basis of liberating oneself from wealth and honor, which helps to experience true existential joy or happiness “lè” (乐).

Recently, we celebrated All Saints 'Day in Lithuania, when we visited the graves of loved ones and remembered those who are not among us. On November 10th in the lecture “Ancestor Worship and Funeral Customs in Chinese Culture” delivered by Balys Astrauskas, a PhD student at Vilnius University, Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, junior assistant, we presented the burial traditions of the Chinese, the importance of ancestral worship in China and the differences between burial customs and Lithuanian traditions.

On October 25th an event took place as part of the project "Between Choice and Determinism: Cultural Diversity in the Experience and Conceptualization of Free Will, Success and Fortuity".

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably one of the most famous English poets and dramatists, whose name is still heard today, and tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet have become an inspiration to directors and filmmakers around the world. And did you know that China had “its own” Shakespeare during the same period?