On February 19, 2014, at Glasinfryn Women Institute’s invitation, Professor Zhang Liying, the Chinese Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at Bangor University (BU), Yu Meng and Li Zhihui jointly gave a lecture titled “Chinese Women” for their hosts.
All the members of the Glasinfryn Women Institute are career women, and they raised many questions about women’s' lives in China, such as the proportion of women that receive education in China, the diversity of their professions, the material benefits and the life after retirement, the family structure in China, the changes to the “one-child policy” and so forth. The three lecturers answered these questions one by one. In the section concerning China’s ethnic minorities, professor Zhang let Yu Meng who was dressed in minority costume make a vivid introduction. As for the Chinese women’s life after retirement, professor Zhang asked Li Zhihui and Yu Men to perform Tai Chi Fan which is popular among the Chinese retired women. After these serious topics, some light-hearted paper-cutting activities were arranged. Under the guidance of three speakers, the members of Glasinfryn quickly mastered how to cut the shapes of snowflakes and little animals out of paper, which indeed gave them a sense of achievement. Many of the WI thought this was one of the best organized activities they had attended in recent years.
After the lecture’s successful conclusion, Glasinfryn sent a letter of thanks to the Confucius Institute, expressing the hope of arranging another activity and discussing the issues raised in greater detail. The secretary of the Glasinfryn WI, Ms. Jocelyn Bowen, wrote a letter to professor Zhang: “I'm writing on behalf of the members of the Glasinfryn WI to say how much we enjoyed your talk and demonstration. Those members who unfortunately missed it were most disappointed. I understand you will be returning home to China early this summer and it leaves us with very little time, if you are willing, to arrange another talk.” Professor Zhang replied that another lecture or seminar could be arranged in the upcoming June or July.
