Author: H-J Colston

Stimulating economic growth through business; educating young people about different cultures and perspectives; escalating geo-political tensions; tackling climate change – all of these are likely topics at our upcoming fundraising event, 24 May, Central London. Tickets on sale NOW! This is a rare opportunity to meet the Chinese Ambassador and we welcome you to join us. Huge thanks to our Sponsors & Support Partners.

At Engage with China’s Good Cop Bad Cop climate change ModelUN conference 2022, everyone learned a Chinese proverb, namely that,

“a tree planted now will provide shade for future generations.”

Proverb shared by China Delegate 04 at Good Cop Bad Cop 2022

Engage with China was so inspired by this Chinese wisdom that the charity set about how to leave a lasting legacy from its environmental conference this year. Good Cop Bad Cop2 ModelUN conference was to take place on 20 January on the cusp of Chinese New Year. Hosted by The Grange School, Cheshire, the conference involved 200 students from around the world, including China and the debate focussed on climate change. As trees play a vital role in CO2 capture but also provide shade and beauty in gardens, an idea to plant a tree seemed to be the perfect fit.

Working with Georgina Britten-Long, Deputy Lieutenant for Worcestershire, H-J Colston-Inge, Director of Engage With China and a resident of Worcester, asked how the charity could be part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project (QGCP) in the county?

“People might not realise it, but we consume and enjoy many things that originated from China. Tea and porcelain for example – but also cherry trees and other plants in the English country garden. The lasting gift of a tree will also be to build better Chinese cultural understanding,”

said H-J Colston-Inge, Director at Engage with China

After various conversations, arrangements were made to gift a cherry tree to each of the two local schools participating in the Model UN conference.

The King’s School Worcester and Christopher Whitehead Language College were delighted to receive the trees last week but the first to be planted out was with the help of the eco-council at KSW’s prep school, King’s Hawford. On Monday 23 January after H-J had delivered a Chinese New Year assembly to the whole school, the tree was planted in the school’s new ‘Royal Garden.’ Tom Butt, Headmaster, said,

The assembly was interactive and pitched perfectly for our pupils, who were able to learn more not just about Chinese New Year but the environment, innovation, food and wider Chinese culture. We are so grateful for the donation of the beautiful cherry tree, which our Eco-Council has planted on the Top Field at King’s Hawford where, as the Chinese proverb says, “a tree planted now will provide the shade for future generations”. With sustainability and global citizenship at the heart of all we do at King’s Hawford, this was a perfect start to the week!

QGCP was created by Her Majesty the Queen in 2019 during her Platinum Jubilee year to encourage tree planting – not only in the UK but in the commonwealth generally, creating a legacy in honour of The late Queen’s 70 years on the throne, and to benefit current and future generations. “In Worcestershire alone,” said Mrs Britten-Long, “we will have planted about 100,000 trees, all carrying different stories. This is a really special one.”

On Friday 20 January just before Chinese New Year 2023, 200 pupils from 20 schools located across multiple time zones participated in an online Model United Nations conference to debate climate change. The Good Cop Bad Cop2 conference is a student-led event organised by Engage with China, an educational charity that builds China literacy in UK schools. This was its second annual MUN hosted by The Grange School, Cheshire and sponsored by ESG Ai Tech (Shanghai) Ltd 宜斯吉智能科技（上海）有限公司.

Russian delegate studying at St Columba’s, Dublin, who comes from Hong Kong, put the urgency of the conference topic very eloquently;

“it is in humanity’s nature to be foolish..we have allowed it to fester and this has led to the exploitation of our planet… However, a Chinese proverb says 不见棺材不落泪 or ‘only shed tears when you see the coffin’, in other words, it is incumbent on all of us to work cross-culturally, to take responsibility and to keep going to find solutions and prevent disaster.”

Russian delegate

The four-hour long conference included 2.5 hours to debate resolutions agreed by global leaders at COP26 in Sharm El-Sheik.

“During the Lunar New Year, people in the west focus on Chinese culture for a few days but, more generally speaking, young people understand very little about its culture and history. Climate change does not recognise borders and initiatives like Good Cop Bad Cop provides a platform to build cross-cultural skills to enable future collaboration with other countries, including China,”

said H-J Colston-Inge, Director of Engage with China

“By involving Chinese and other international students, we hope to spark the imagination that might impact on pupils’ future subject choices and career paths,” she added. Students heard plenty of articulate voices as the debates worked clause by clause through resolutions. “Each country should contribute what they can,” said a student representing Japan whilst another representing Kenya said, “the countries causing the most damage should pay more.”

As well as a high level of debate, aspiration was built further with the involvement of VIP guest speakers. UK Ambassador to China, Dame Caroline Wilson, who is a mandarin speaker, said,

“Thank you to Engage with China for inviting me to this Good Cop Bad Cop conference. Global cooperation is crucial to tackling climate change. In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass legislation to end its contribution to global warming & to achieve net zero greenhouse gases by 2050. COP26 commitments went further…partnerships in China include on Green finance, climate risk & renewable energy.” 兔年快乐！

Dame Caroline Wilson, UK Ambassador to China

Robin Walker, MP for Worcester, was also delighted to hear that two Worcester schools were taking part. Appearing at the conference he said,

As former Minister of Education I was pleased to launch a sustainability and climate change strategy for the department of Education…there is no doubt that we need to see global action and understand the global dynamics and engage constructively on this huge 21^st century challenge.”

Robin Walker, MP for Worcester

There was plenty to interest the students as they also heard from other speakers. BBC reporter and founder of environmental think-tank, Isobel Hilton, exhorted the students to “find common understanding…tell your stories..and tell what you know about climate change to family, friends and communities.” Peggy Liu, China’s ‘Green Goddess,’ spoke about “the Holy grail to get us to a (greener) future which includes energy production nuclear fusion and transmission lines that don’t lose energy as they transmit from Sahara desert to Europe.”

Asked why he wanted to participate in the conference, student Ollie R from KSW said, “I was driven to create an environment of eloquent discussion and expression during the conference in order to further my generation’s drive to solve the climate change crisis.” His enthusiasm and interest paid off. Rosie Shearburn, who heads up the MUN at the school said, “My delegation REALLY enjoyed it. What I saw was tremendous.  They were completely engrossed in the debate, and the chairing was reported to be the best.  In fact, the girls are forming a fan club!”

The Grange School in Cheshire acted as the Host School. Asked at the end of the conference about the experience, Will Smith, Conference President and from The Grange, said,

“it was a really wonderful experience to chair such a great event – especially to be its President. The standard of debate was very high and some of the delegations really, really excelled themselves, including the schools representing Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia.. We passed three clauses and three amendents.”

William Smith, Y13 student, Good Cop Bad Cop2 MUN conference President

Feedback from other schools was similarly positive. Mrs Gray, Head of Geography at St Wilfrid’s RC College said, “What an amazing student-led conference. Empowering young people to become involved in global politics and issues that will impact them was fantastic… Our Year 13 students have said they will not forget this experience and our current Year 12 students said they can’t wait to take part again next year.” 

Two schools took part from China, dialling into the conference just one day before Chinese New Year’s Eve. Piao Yiwen from Changchun Foreign Language School and who chaired Resolution 3 on Compensation for loss and damage, said, “it was such an honour to debate with such wonderful and talented students. This was such an academic meeting and enhanced our learning. Thank you!”

Students from six schools involved in the Mandarin Excellence Programme were involved. This is a UK government funded programme to boost mandarin language learning and fluency. This conference added value by widening their China-related learning and some of the mandarin learners gave the Chinese students a Happy New Year message in mandarin.

Christopher Whitehead Language College in Worcester will share their interest in Chinese culture by being involved in the Chinese New Year celebrations this Sunday, 29 January in the city. Details on our resources page.

On Friday 20 January 2023, just before Chinese Spring Festival ushering in the Year of the Rabbit, educational charity, Engage with China, will host its annual, international climate change Model United Nations conference for 15–18-year-old students. This conference sees a 25% growth in both the number of schools and students involved. Known as ‘Good Cop Bad Cop,’ the conference will facilitate debate across multiple time zones on four continents. As with all MUNs, students will represent an allocated country other than their own and will debate five resolutions including those made at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik in November 2022. 

Eight of the schools taking part are from the state sector and six of them run the  Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP), a unique intensive language programme in around 70 state schools in the UK that started in 2016. Taking part in Good Cop Bad Cop will increase their exposure to wider China understanding and develop their confidence, courage and collaborative skills. Some of the pupils are also expected to speak in mandarin and welcome the Chinese students. The MEP is funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the UCL Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council with teachers from China involved in much of the teaching.

Engage with China Director, Mrs H-J Colston-Inge,  (Chinese name童海珍) said, “this is our second MUN and provides a unique and powerful platform for future leaders in different parts of the world and from different backgrounds to debate a reality that threatens humanity and biodiversity. Not only will this opportunity enrich students’ global understanding but it will also open their eyes to the complexities of international negotiation, the cause and effect of modernisation and economic growth on the environment and the critical importance of driving innovation to find technologies to combat climate change.” Students will represent twenty countries including Bangladesh, UAE, Pakistan, China, Ukraine and Nigeria. “Through their research and negotiations, they will soon understand that solving climate change is not about competition but collaboration.”

As well as expecting a very high level of debate, the young people will benefit from insights of thought leaders, diplomats, government officials and environmental entrepreneurs. One VIP speaker is Dame Caroline Wilson, British Ambassador to China who is expected to showcase areas where China and the UK are working in partnership, for example, on green finance, climate risk and renewable energy. Other speakers include Robin Walker, MP for Worcester and Peggy Liu, known as ‘China’s Green Goddess,’ who will speak about scientific innovation in the race to produce and store renewable energy sources into the future. 

The event is sponsored by ESG Ai Tech (Shanghai) Limited 宜斯吉智能科技（上海）有限公司, a dedicated tech and consulting company which focuses on ESG Analysis, Rating, Risk Management, Reporting and Total Solutions based on data, Ai,and cross-industry proprietary models. Mr Fuwei Zhang of ESG said that the reason his company wanted to support Good Cop Bad Cop conference was because, “both EwC and ESG Ai Tech pay great attention to the humanity challenge of climate change. We also share the same mission, namely making efforts to promote friendly exchanges and cooperation between the people of the world, especially in China and the UK.”

Two of the participating schools are in Worcester in The Midlands, UK. Member of Parliament for the city, Robin Walker, said, “I am delighted to hear that two of my local schools are taking part in this Good Cop Bad Cop. As former minister of Education I was pleased to launch a sustainability and climate change strategy for the department of Education. ..there is no doubt that we need to see global action and understand the global dynamics and engage constructively on this huge 21^st century challenge.”

Students from one of the participating schools in China, will take a responsible and vital role of chairing one of the resolution debates. They will conduct this role in English, utilising their excellent language skills. Teacher Qi Lina from Changchun Foreign Language School who is coordinating these students said, 

“As the main recipients of the consequences of climate change and the future citizens of society, teenagers will become the main force in dealing with climate change. Therefore, young people should be educated to raise their awareness and ability to cope with climate change, which is particularly important. We are very appreciative of [Engage with China’s] GOOD COP BAD COP. It provides us with a good platform for students to arouse their in-depth attention to climate change and promote youth communication and cooperation. Hopefully, this activity can lay a foundation for these young people to become future policy leaders, business leaders, venture investors and scientific experts through more extensive international cooperation in the future.” 

It is hoped that this debate will have the potential to advance global thinking and find collaborative solutions. “That would be an excellent start to the Year of the Rabbit,” adds H-J Colston-Inge, “ensuring that the rabbit zodiac characteristics of compassion and alertness take the lead to progress positive international negotiations.”

As we come to the end of the Chinese Lunar Year, there is much to share about the last twelve months. 

A passion

We are proud of our achievements which are borne out of our passion to build China literacy in UK schools. As schools emerged from lockdown restrictions, we were invited back into classrooms and had the joy of delivering our China Challenge Days to over 1,000 pupils across key stages 2-4 on subjects as broad as the Silk Roads, China’s geographical diversity, cuisine, population, AI and innovation. Schools from West Sussex to Worcestershire invited us in to build cultural capital and confidence through our interactive activities and fresh knowledge base. More here:

A global platform

We roared into the Year of the Tiger with our inaugural international Good Cop Bad Cop Model UN conference. Basing the debate around the resolutions of COP26 in Glasgow, it involved 150+ students from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Ireland, UK and Australia. Students debated from the perspective of another country than their own, researching the realities of climate change, building greater global awareness and developing skills such as empathy, listening, confidence and collaboration. Students participating in this online conference also heard from inspirational speakers from the International Energy Association, the Chinese Embassy and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Some even had the exclusive opportunity to be interviewed on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester with presenter, Kate Justice.

Speaking in English, one of the erudite delegates from Changchun Foreign Language School in Northeast China, whose delegation represented the European Union at the conference, indicated the level of attention that Chinese people place on understanding the outside world. “Our school focuses on training outstanding Chinese diplomatic talent tying into our educational philosophy of national awareness and international vision.” At EwC we understand that knowledge is power and that Chinese young people, by virtue of learning English as a compulsory subject for nine years and discovering about western culture, are better equipped to understand the wider global context than their western peers perhaps are.  Watch summary highlights of our conference here: 

Porcelain

What better way to spark the imagination of pupils about China than through porcelain and tea and their impact on British culture? We have been delighted to work with the Museum of Royal Worcester (MoRW) over the last few months developing their knowledge about the Chinese influence in their exquisite collection, enhancing the archive and developing resources for community and school outreach. You can find out more about our thoughts on the valuable Wigornia cream boat here and the blue and white Angler under a Willow Tree teapot here with our Director, H-J Colston-Inge and Frankie Tsang, Chairman of the Worcestershire Chinese Association.

We were also delighted to be able to leverage the knowledge and experience of our Trustee, Charles Collins; art historian, Anne Haworth and our Ambassador & antiques specialist, Ben Cooper. We spent a fascinating day together uncovering not-seen-before designs in the archive collection, discovering real treasures of design and motif and delighting in them with the wonderful team at the Museum. More news on this project when we finish this funding round at the end of January…

Meantime, why not book to join the Chinese Whispers online talk with Museum Trustee, Paul Crane, on 18 January? 

A Princess

We were invited to showcase our work to Princess Alexandra when she visited the Royal Porcelain Works in Worcester back in the Autumn. The Princess learnt about the work of various community groups and charities involved in the area at the event held at the Henry Sandon Hall and ‘took tea’ in royal fashion from a tea set courtesy of the Museum of Royal Worcester. EwC even gave the Princess a Chinese name which means love, beauty and charity, allowing the sounds of her English name and the work she is involved to be reflected in the Chinese characters. The calligraphy was painted by our Director, Theresa Booth, who took up the art-form during lockdown. We discovered that whilst the Princess has been to Hong Kong, she has never travelled to mainland China. Needless to say, she was fascinated by the work we are doing to leverage the national collection at the MoRW and our reach into UK schools. 

Thank you for your support and interest and do invite us into schools around the Chinese New Year festival starting soon! Click below for more of our 2022 highlights:

Year 7 students (aged 11-12) at St Birinus School in Didcot enjoyed our first China Challenge Day of 2023 developing their grasp of China’s modernity and gaining hands-on cultural enrichment.

Phil Mahoney, Head of Mandarin at the school, commented “having started learning Mandarin last September, a full-day experience in school was a great opportunity to open my students’ eyes to China’s significance on the world stage.”

The activities were collaboratively planned in advance between Engage with China and the school, which ensured everything was highly relevant and captured the energy of an all-boys’ context. 

Mr Mahoney continued, 

“From quantifying China’s vast population through measuring it with water, team-building tasks involving prioritising the developmental needs of a country, to a calligraphy class in which the students created their own lucky red envelopes, the Challenge Day captured the boys’ imaginations and improved their critical cultural awareness. The day was highly successful in developing our boys’ confidence, collaboration, courage, and creativity – the key skills our Mandarin department seeks to develop in all.” He continued, “This was a chance to complement the language learning of the Mandarin for Excellence School programme taught at St Birinus and to set into context modern China, its history and culture. 

Engage with China Director, Theresa Booth, who delivered the Challenge Day, said,

“it was so good to see the boys so focussed and really embracing the activities, cogitating over concepts and learnings. It was a delight to work with this group, to expand their knowledge and understanding of China beyond their in-school mandarin language on the Mandarin for Excellence Programme (MEP) and for them to recognise China’s on-going potential and impact.”

The Mandarin Excellence Programme is a unique intensive language programme in around 70 state schools in the UK that started in 2016. There are now around 8,000 students enrolled on the programme and on track to fluency in the language. The MEP is funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the UCL Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council with teachers from China involved in much of the teaching.

Engage with China delivers extra-curricular China Challenge Days involving 5 hours of face-to-face teaching time with age-appropriate materials for KS2-KS4 sparking the imagination through a dramatic introduction to China’s cultural and historical context.

An interview by Engage with China Director, H-J Colston-Inge, on Chinese Central TV in October 2022 . She was spotted by a young Chinese student, Jia Lu, in Dongguan in Guangdong Province, southern China, on her school’s News Board. Coincidentally, now 15, Miss Lu had participated in a summer camp organised by Chopsticks Club and held at The Elms School, Herefordshire, in 2019.

H-J spoke about her personal observation over three decades of China’s massive infrastructure development moving from poverty into extraordinary economic growth. The interview was broadcast in October 2022 and featured photographs of H-J as a foreign student on the Great Wall of China and eating the delicacy of Shanghai Crab as well as footage from both work at Engage with China and H-J’s role as Joint CEO of Chopsticks Club, a China-UK professionals’ network that she has run for 30 years. H-J spoke in mandarin and English and was referred to with her Chinese name, 童海珍.

The student’s mother, a lawyer who spent a year in the UK on a scholarship scheme in 2009 said,

“Guess where we saw you! This is the news board of her school.  She was very excited to see you, took a photograph of the news board and introduced you to her classmates and teachers. She asked me to contact you and let you know the good news.”

You can see the interview here: 

H-J was one of three people from the UK invited to talk about her experience of China and its development over recent decades. Other interviews for CCTV from the UK were conducted with Stephen Perry, former Chair of the 48 Group and Martin Jacques, author of ‘When China Rules the World.’ China specialists from other countries were also invited to give interviews.