Category

Organisation and website

Commentary

The China Plan - In May 2008, the devolved government of Scotland published its revised China Plan, with seven key objectives covering education, commercial and cultural sectors. This is viewable online here and downloadable as a pdf here. An analysis of the Plan, and a comparison with the earlier 'China strategy' produced in 2006, by the Scottish Parliament's research team is available as a pdf here. A breakdown of activity by Chinese province is also given here, although it is not comprehensive and, sadly, does not appear to have been updated since summer 2006. The Plan has also been extensively scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament's European and External Relations Committee, see item below.

The First Minister, Alex Salmond MP MSP, has now visited China twice. He visited Shanghai and Beijing in April 2009 - for more details, see this Scottish Government news release, various reports on our news page here, and this later Parliamentary Answer. Then in July 2010, he visited Shanghai (notably for the World Expo), Tianjin and Beijing - see various reports on our news page here.

Information in Chinese - This is a Scottish Government website, giving various information in Chinese, including tourism, study, business and working in Scotland. 欢迎来到苏格兰官方中文网站

Parliamentary scrutiny - During session 2008-09, the Parliament's European and External Relations Committee took oral and written evidence as part of its scrutiny of the Scottish Government's China Plan. Details of evidence sessions and submissions from a variety of Scottish organisations with interests in China can be found here, and initial oral evidence from a Minister, Linda Fabiani, is here. It has issued an interim report, see here. Further oral evidence was taken from the Education Minister, Fiona Hyslop, on 19 May, and can be read here. In final meetings, the Committee took evidence from the Parliament's own Cross Party Group on China (see below) on 16 June, which can be read here, and met the Chinese community on 27 August - a note of this meeting is here.

The Committee published its final report on 9 October, available here. The Scottish Government response was published on 26 January 2010, and is downloadable here. See ongoing coverage, as it arises, on our news page.

On 3 November the Committee took additional evidence from Iain Smith MSP, Convenor of the Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, who visited China as part of an SDI delegation 17-23 October. His evidence is reported here.

Cross Party Group - This Group was established in the Scottish Parliament in spring 2008. Its meetings are open to the public. Details of its membership and copies of its meeting minutes can be found here. The Blackford Trust is a member of the Group, and Graham Thompson made a presentation about the work of the Trust to its meeting on 20 January 2010.

Other UK departments - Of course, as Scotland is part of the UK, the work of other departments relate to its China relationship.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) handles overall UK-Chinese relations - its advice page for travellers is here, and this page is its portal for the work of the UK Embassy and Consulates in China.

Meanwhile, the Department for International Development (DFID) is the part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. Its China page is here.

Details of UK Trade and Investment are given below in the Commercial section of this list.

Visas and information - The Chinese Consulate in Scotland's capital city provides these services for Scots wishing to visit China, for tourism, study, or business.

School and university links - The British Council is the UK government's main international cultural and education body. In terms of China, it encourages educational links, language teaching and other pogrammes. For details of its Scotland China School Links Programme see here - this includes details of new 'China Activity Grants' and a new competition for schoolchildren aged 5-11, announced on 20 November 2009.

The Council also operates the Saltire Scholarship, see further down this page. The Council's submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here. Other recent initiatives have included a Scottish film festival in Beijing.

Chinese language and culture - Part of a worldwide network of 200 such centres, the Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh has been set up with Sino-Scottish government backing, to promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture in Scotland, and to help develop effective Sino-Scottish business, cultural and academic links. See also the original 2006 Scottish Government announcement.

It is worth noting the Scottish Confucius Institute won the "Institute of the Year" prize for the third time in 2009 - see here for more details.

We regularly post forward notices about Institute events on our Scotland/China events page, and where appropriate report events on our What's New page.

Confucius Classrooms - Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) provides advice, support, resources and staff development to the education community. LTS operates within the terms of a co-operation agreement signed by The Scottish Government with the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2008 (see this news release and full text here), and leads on the Confucius Classrooms initiative - local hubs in ten Scottish schools or colleges, to stimulate and support innovative teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture, together with an online service. These hubs are located at :

• Hazlehead Academy, Aberdeen

• St Ninian's High School, East Dunbartonshire

• Our Lady's High School, North Lanarkshire

• Perth High School, Perth and Kinross

• Grange Academy, East, South and North Ayrshire

• Hillhead High School, Glasgow

• Bathgate Academy, West Lothian

• St George's School, City of Edinburgh

• Queen Anne High School, Fife

• St Ninian's High School, East Renfrewshire

Educational links - The Scotland-China Education Network aims to promote educational links between Scottish and Chinese schools by bringing together those involved to share experiences and good practice. Graham Thompson, Chairman, is a member of the SCEN Board.

Language qualifications - The SQA is involved in both the delivery of language qualifications in Mandarin and Cantonese for Scottish students (see here and here), and in the delivery of Scottish qualifications in China (see here).

Access 3 qualifications in Mandarin and Cantonese have been available in Scotland since school session 2007-2008 ; Intermediate 1 and 2 qualifications in Mandarin and Cantonese since school sessions 2008-2009 ; and Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications are available for the 2009-2010 session.

The SQA submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Scottish Universities - Many of Scotland's 20 universities and higher education colleges have links with China, either through taught degrees, research or other activities. Around 4,000 Chinese students are currently studying in Scotland. There are links to each university or college here. The Universities Scotland submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Scottish colleges - SCI represents over 30 Scottish colleges, some of which have long-standing links with China. The SCI submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Master's studies - This scholarship opportunity is open to Chinese nationals (and some others) and is aimed at encouraging bright, talented and hard working individuals to live, work and study in Scotland. £2000 is available as a one off award towards the cost of tuition fees for a full time Masters level course in a wide range of subject areas, at any of Scotland's universities and higher education institutions. The scheme is run by the British Council.

Research and development - RSE aims to showcase the best of Scotland’s research and development capabilities to the rest of the world and facilitate international exchange. RSE has had a bilateral agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2002, which led to a number of joint research projects. The RSE submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Botany and conservation - RBGE is a world-renowned scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation. It has a longstanding commitment to botany and conservation in China. This includes the Jade Dragon Field Station and Lijiang Alpine Botanic Garden, a conservation project run between the RBGE, the Kunming Institute of Botany and Lijiang Alpine and Plant Research Institute of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science. There is a Chinese hillside at the Gardens in Edinburgh. The RBGE submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Trade and investment - SDI is the Scottish Government's investment promotion arm, and aims to attract foreign investment to Scotland and provide information about doing business in Scotland, as well as supporting Scottish investments and trade overseas. It has China offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The SDI's submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Trade and investment - Scottish companies can of course also access the resources of UK Trade and Investment. Their China page is here. Note that while some information and services is only available to registered UK companies, there is a lot of general background freely available.

Helping companies in China - CBBC is the UK's leading organisation helping British companies in China, and delivers a range of practical services to companies wishing to export to or invest. They have an office in Glasgow and an active Scottish membership, and China offices in Beijing, Shenyang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Shenzhen. The CBBC's submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Trade missions - The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) is an independent membership network, which strengthens Scotland's competitiveness by influencing Government policies. It has organised many China trade missions since 1971, the most recent in March 2009 (see SCDI website for details). Another visit is planned for early March 2010. The SCDI's submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

International business events - Business Club Scotland (BCS) was launched by First Minister Alex Salmond on 3 March 2009, just ahead of his trip to China. Its aim is to ensure that firms across Scotland capitalise on international business opportunities arising from the 2009 Year of Homecoming, the 2014 Commonwealth Games and other major events in Scotland. Salmond noted that the site will be available in Chinese in due course, although it is not yet.

Tourism promotion - The Scottish tourism promotion agency, which is focused on increasing numbers of inbound Chinese tourists. The VisitScotland submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Arts collaboration - The Scottish Arts Council is the lead body for the funding, development and advocacy of the arts in Scotland. Its China work involves dance, visual arts, literature, theatre and crafts. The SAC submission to the Scottish Parliament's scrutiny of the China Plan can be found here.

Friendship and understanding - The SCA is a non-profit organisation for people who have an interest in all aspects of Chinese life and civilisation. The SCA holds a wide range of cultural events in Glasgow and Edinburgh to foster friendship and understanding between the people of Scotland and China. Their links page lists a number of Chinese community organisations and other relevant groups in Scotland. The Blackford Trust is pleased to be a Corporate member of the SCA, and Graham Thompson is serving on the SCA National Committee 2009-2010.

We regularly post forward notices about SCA events on our Scotland/China events page, and where appropriate report events on our What's New page.

Language resources - The Scotland Chinese Dictionary Project is a free resource hosted by Inbox Education, a Scottish publisher of educational materials and China-specialists. Find out the Chinese for Auld Lang Syne, haggis and bagpipes !

Chinese Lives in Scotland - this interesting website has been created under the auspices of the Edinburgh International Festival on the experience of Chinese people living in Scotland. It has been created by Scottish/Chinese artist Pamela So and charts, in a very personal way through photographs and stories, the lives of Chinese people who have chosen to make Scotland their home.

Remembering James Legge - Chinese artists Deng Dafei and He Hai from Beijing have been based in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, during 2009 working on various art projects, and helping to celebrate the life of James Legge who was born in in the town in 1815, and worked as a missionary in China and Hong Kong.

Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group - The CSG was founded in May 1989 by scholars of the University of Aberdeen with the aims of developing the inter-disciplinary study and discussion, on an academic and strictly non-political basis, of all aspects of Chinese social, political, economic and cultural development. The CSG also aims to encourage and establish links with other educational establishments, members of the public, local organisations and the local business community having personal, educational or business interests in China. Meetings and talks are open to the public. Graham Thompson, Chairman, made a presentation about the work of the Trust to this Group on 14 April 2010.

Chinese arts and culture - Ricefield was established in 2004 by two prominent figures in printing and graphic design within the Glasgow Chinese communities, Lin Chau and Julia Hung, and is now supported by a wide range of individuals and organisations who share a passion for arts and culture.

Ricefield aims to support and promote Chinese arts and culture in Scotland by providing professional support and opportunities in Scotland to artists of Chinese descent, promoting the development and traditions of Chinese arts and culture in Scotland, providing the mainstream and other minority ethnic communities with greater accessibility to Chinese arts and culture, and nurturing creative activity within the Chinese communities.

Connecting young business leaders - the 'Young Icebreakers' is a networking organisation, set up by the 48 Group, to help young business people in Scotland connect with their Chinese counterparts.

Uniting and promoting young Chinese professionals - launched in June 2010, the Young Chinese Professionals Scotland (YCP) is a key network that aims to unite and promote young Chinese professionals in Scotland, and to facilitate the positive developments between Scotland and China through linking with all groups interested in Scotland-China partnerships.