Category

Organisation and website

Commentary

The China Plan - the Scottish Government published its new five-year China strategy on 4 December 2012 - see this news release, with the document itself viewable online or downloadable as a pdf here. At first reading, it appears to be mainly an incremental development of what has gone before, with updated targets in various policy areas.

This new Plan replaces that published in May 2008. Then, 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 earlier 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 Scottish activity by Chinese province used to be available on their website but this is no longer available. The earlier 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 three times. He visited Shanghai and Beijing in April 2009 - for more details, see various reports on our news page here. Then in July 2010, he visited Shanghai (notably for the World Expo), Tianjin and Beijing - see more reports on our news page here. And in December 2011, he visited Beijing, Shandong province, Shenzhen and Hong Kong - see our news page for more.

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 2008 China Plan. Details of evidence sessions and submissions from a variety of Scottish organisations with interests in China can be found here and here. See also our news page for various reports between January 2009 and January 2010.

In March 2013, the Committee announced another inquiry into "the economic realities of international trade and inward investment", with particular reference to the 'China Plan'. See also the main committee page here.

Cross Party Group - This Group was first established in the Scottish Parliament during its 2007-2011 session, and has recently been re-constituted in the new Parliament - basic details are here.

The Blackford Trust has been a regular attender at the Group for some years, 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 programmes. For details of its Scotland China School Links Programme see here - this includes of its Chinese Language Assistants Programme and a Mandarin Speaking Competition.

The Council also operates the Saltire Scholarship, see further down this page.Other recent initiatives have included a Scottish film festival in Beijing.

Chinese language and culture - there are now three Confucius Institutes in Scotland, part of a worldwide network of over 300 such centres.

The Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh was set up in 2007 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. Its website is here. See also the original 2006 Scottish Government announcement.

The Institute launched a new information portal, "China Info for Scotland", in September 2010. This website is a new gateway between Scotland and China, helping to develop effective Sino-Scottish business, cultural and academic links. It includes extensive sections on contacts, education, business, travel and media, and will continue to develop in the coming months.

A second Institute opened in October 2011, the Confucius Institute at the University of Glasgow - its website is here. It is a partnership with Nankai University in Tianjin, supported by the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Office for Chinese Language (Hanban). It builds on long-standing research collaborations between the two universities and is strongly founded on research on China across the University of Glasgow in the social sciences, arts, and business, in particular through the activities of the Scottish Centre for Chinese Social Science Research.

The third is the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools, launched on 6 June 2012 at Strathclyde University. The new Institute will focus on offering support to schools around Scotland in their teaching of Chinese language and culture. It will initially work with 12 existing Confucius classroom hubs, with the intention of expanding the network in primary and secondary schools across the country.

This Institute takes forward some of the co-ordination role previously undertaken by the now defunct Learning & Teaching Scotland. It will be based in the University-based SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages, part of the University of Strathclyde’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

More details can be found on this page, which includes links to various presentations made on the day and other useful information.

Confucius Classrooms - Education Scotland (formerly Learning and Teaching Scotland) provides advice, support, resources and staff development to the education community. ES 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 13 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, Edinburgh

• Leith Academy, City of Edinburgh

• Queen Anne High School, Fife

• St Ninian's High School, East Renfrewshire

• Bo'ness Academy, Falkirk

• Hamlton Grammar School, South Lanarkshire

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.

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.

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 since school session 2009-2010.

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.

Scottish colleges - SCI represents over 30 Scottish colleges, some of which have long-standing links with China.

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.

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.

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.

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, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

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 (see SCDI website for details of recent trips).

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 would be available in Chinese in due course, although this has not yet happened !

Tourism promotion - The Scottish tourism promotion agency, which is focused on increasing numbers of inbound Chinese tourists.

Arts collaboration - Creative Scotland is the lead body for the funding, development and advocacy of the arts in Scotland, replacing the Scottish Arms Council. Its China work has involved dance, visual arts, literature, theatre and crafts.

Friendship and understanding - The SCA is a non-profit organisation for people who have an interest in all aspects of Chinese life and civilisation. It was established in 1966. 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 has served on the SCA National Committee since 2009.

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 !

Just the thing for a Burns Supper in China - in 2006, a special Chinese Scottish tartan was created - details from the official Tartan Register are here, with a BBC report here.

Promoting Tibetan Buddhism and culture - established in 1967, the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre, near Eskdalemuir, in south west Scotland, was the first Tibetan Buddhist Centre established in the West. It is a centre for wisdom and learning within the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and is open to people of all faiths and none.

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.

Please note the Group's new temporary website as of October 2011.

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.

Where to see Chinese animals - you can see quite a few Chinese animals at the two Royal Zoological Society of Scotland sites, Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. For example, the Highland Wildlife Park has Amur tigers, yaks, kiang, bharal, red pandas, goral, mishimi, and Bactrian camels. And Edinburgh Zoo has goral, red junglefowl, white-lipped deer, amongst others - and, of course, is bringing pandas to Edinburgh on 4 December 2011 - see various items on our news page. The Zoo now has a special panda website. Meanwhile, This BBC article provides up-to-date info on the panda breeding programme in Chengdu.