The Leisure Activities in China workshop by the Confucius Institute was held at VolSU

At the Tochka Kipeniya event platform of Volgograd State University, university and school students took part in the Leisure Activities in China workshop by the Confucius Institute. The event was held within the framework of the Years of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports announced in 2022-2023.

A rich program was prepared for the participants: a mini-lecture on Chinese leisure activities by Valeria Kozhemyakina, the leading specialist of the Confucius Institute, as well as four master classes on Chinese chess (xiàngqí) and checkers (wéiqí), origami (zhézhǐ) and paper cutting (jiǎnzhǐ). The workshop was attended not only by VolSU students, but also by students of Volgograd State Technical University and students of secondary school No. 81. The participants learned interesting facts about traditional leisure activities in China – for example, the art of jiǎnzhǐ involves cutting figures strictly from a single sheet of paper, and Chinese chess is similar to Western chess, Indian chaturanga and Japanese shogi.

Bai Bowen, a participant of the academic exchange program, who arrived at VolSU from Jilin University for two semesters, also helped to understand the intricacies of playing Chinese chess. "Everything went very well, it was incredibly interesting for me. Such events perfectly develop Chinese-Russian relations!" the Chinese intern said.