[Video provided by Xi'an International Studies University] 

Xi'an International Studies University, or XISU – located in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – on July 15 completed its online 2022 Chinese Bridge Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) Virtual Intensive Study in China event.

Initiated and funded by the UK government, the MEP project is hosted by the British Council, University College London and the country's Center for Language Education and Cooperation.

The MEP course mainly serves to help UK students to increase their fluency in Chinese and organizes annual intensive study visits to China for students who have gained a basic knowledge of the language. This year the China summer camp was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

British middle school students learn Chinese via a video link. [Photo/WeChat account of Xi'an International Studies University]

This was the third year that XISU participated in the MEP project.

Focusing on the themes of pandas and zoos, sports and a modern life, campus life and history and cultural heritage, the university provided more than 100 middle school students from four schools in the UK with live online teaching, video tours, folk experiences, music concerts, family visits and other forms of Chinese teaching and cultural experiences with a rich content.

In the Chinese martial arts experience section, an instructor went to the Xi'an Lujia Hongquan Cultural Heritage Base. Under the guidance of Lu Jia, an inheritor of the martial art of hongquan, British school kids got a great grasp of the practice.

Livestream hosts conduct a session about Xi'an. [Photo/WeChat account of Xi'an International Studies University]

XISU also organized an online visit of Xi'an for British middle school students. During the 40-minute livestreaming session, the hosts led students around the Xi'an City Wall, the Terracotta Warriors and Datang Everbright City – among other places – allowing them to appreciate Xi'an's profound history and modern prosperity.

In addition, students from Xi'an No 2 Foreign Language School and Didcot Girls School in the UK prepared an online concert that featured violin, guitar, erhu and pipa performances.