China Futures Society

06/04/2026

Hello everyone. I’m Antonio and I’m going to share a bit about my experience here in Peking University!

There is no shortage of social life here! This exchange year is a really good chance to start fresh and has been immensely helpful for personal development (and some dad lore)!!

If you couldn’t tell, I’m a big fan of city lights so China provides plenty of opportunities to be fascinated by such scenes, especially if you’ve not seen all that much!

I spent my Chinese New Year break travelling around Southern China, which was a big contrast in weather compared to Beijing. It was a really good experience and helped my Chinese improve a ton! Also we got to experience the great Guangzhou hospitality, as we were spontaneously invited by a group of 叔叔s at midnight for some food and 白酒.

For Spring Festival Eve me and a friend went to 佛山 (Foshan) and rode 美团 e-bikes around town, then saw fireworks being let off across the whole riverside. The clip of the fireworks I’ve included is a small snippet of what was going on from around 8-12pm!

06/04/2026

Hi CFS, this is Anna and I’m going to share a bit about my life at Fudan University and my travel experiences during the Chinese New Year break. I can’t believe it’ll be time to leave China in a couple of months—it has flown by!
During January and February, we had a two-month holiday for CNY and I took the opportunity to travel to 12 cities in China, as well as Vietnam and Japan. I particularly enjoyed Chengdu as I was able to see pandas for the first time and I loved the relaxed lifestyle of the city. I also enjoyed visiting the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Lijiang, as well as learning more about Naxi traditions. Xi’an was also a highlight—not only as the home of the Terracotta Army but also for the famous street food in the Muslim Quarter, such as 𰻝𰻝面 and 肉夹馍.
I spent Chinese New Year with my grandparents, who live in Guanghai, a town in Taishan, Guangdong. This was my first time celebrating the new year in China and it was a very special experience—one I will always remember!
I definitely think my Chinese improved during this travelling period as I was using it in all kinds of situations such as bargaining, ordering food, or speaking to locals.
After the long travel period, I was excited to get back to Shanghai and return to university life. The second semester brought new teachers and classmates which was a nice change. My class size is a bit smaller than last semester which I prefer. I’ve been enjoying 听说 classes recently as they’ve been very interactive and we often do small group performances, which help with spontaneous speaking.
It is currently 清明节 in China, so we have an extra day off! My friends and I took a day trip to Suzhou and went on a hike on one of the warmest days in a while. As much as I love Shanghai, it’s always fun to take a short trip and explore somewhere new.
With only a couple of months left, I still have a list of places I want to visit. There are many things I’ll miss about China including the food, Hellobikes and the Fudan campus, but I’m so glad I chose to study abroad in Shanghai!
For anyone going to Fudan next year, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a message :)

06/04/2026

Hi CFS! This is Anna and I’m going to share a bit about my life at Fudan University and my travel experiences during the Chinese New Year break. I can’t believe it’ll be time to leave China in a couple of months—it has flown by!
During January and February, we had a two-month holiday for CNY and I took the opportunity to travel to 12 cities in China, as well as Vietnam and Japan. I particularly enjoyed Chengdu as I was able to see pandas for the first time and I loved the relaxed lifestyle of the city. I also enjoyed visiting the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Lijiang, as well as learning more about Naxi traditions. Xi’an was also a highlight—not only as the home of the Terracotta Army but also for the famous street food in the Muslim Quarter, such as 𰻝𰻝面 and 肉夹馍.
I spent Chinese New Year with my grandparents, who live in Guanghai, a town in Taishan, Guangdong. This was my first time celebrating the new year in China and it was a very special experience—one I will always remember!
I definitely think my Chinese improved during this travelling period as I was using it in all kinds of situations such as bargaining, ordering food, or speaking to locals.
After the long travel period, I was excited to get back to Shanghai and return to university life. The second semester brought new teachers and classmates which was a nice change. My class size is a bit smaller than last semester which I prefer. I’ve been enjoying 听说 classes recently as they’ve been very interactive and we often do small group performances, which help with spontaneous speaking.
It is currently 清明节 in China, so we have an extra day off! My friends and I took a day trip to Suzhou and went on a hike on one of the warmest days in a while. As much as I love Shanghai, it’s always fun to take a short trip and explore somewhere new.
With only a couple of months left, I still have a list of places I want to visit. There are many things I’ll miss about China including the food, Hellobikes and the Fudan campus, but I’m so glad I chose to study abroad in Shanghai!
For anyone going to Fudan next year, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a message :)

25/03/2026

Join us next Wednesday 1st April from 4:30-6 in 50 George Square room G.01 for a wonderful talk with the extremely talented Kate Hunt, Head of Sales for Chinese Works of Art at Christie’s London. Having previously worked as a journalist covering the Asian art market, Kate is extremely knowledgeable around Chinese art!

There are no tickets required for this event!

We look forward to seeing you for the last event of the semester!

22/03/2026

Apply here: https://forms.office.com/e/wp7u3ef1Tr
It will be held on Teams. All members will be sent an email link to the meeting!

06/03/2026

Hi cfs. Im Jake and im going to share a bit about my life at Peking University.

We are just finishing a 2 month holiday, so I haven’t actually been in PKU much, instead I’ve been travelling across china. When you come to China, family and friends will probably use it as an opportunity to visit the country and see you, so ive been taking a lot of people around. These travels included the Great Wall, the teracotta warriors (alongside a 4 night bender in Xi’an), Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. Honestly my favourite was Shanghai, its a very liveable city for anyone considering studying there. Coming from Beijing where its cold and very Chinese, Shanghai felt more international.

My Chinese has definitely improved in PKU, but note that the class style is quite traditional and lecture oriented, you don’t do too much talking, more so sitting and listening. Still, the campus is beautiful and the lack of English in Beijing is good for practice.

The most important thing over the holiday is to not stay in whichever city you study. Make sure you go to as many places as possible. My only questionable decision was inner mongolia, which has the worst toilets in the world and we were stuck on a bus for 10 hours everyday. Missing it already.

I haven’t gone into too much depth about my life at PKU, so if you have any questions, definitely message me.

06/03/2026

Hi CFS! My name is Ruby and welcome to Taipei, Taiwan, where I have been living and studying for the past 7 months! Time has flown by and yet my life has been filled with the joys of new experiences and adventure.

NCCU is set at the foot of the beautiful green hills in Wenshan District and the campus and student body are known to be open and friendly. Taking part in extracurricular clubs (slide 4) and field trips (slide 5/6) have been a brilliant way to meet new people and learn more about Taiwanese culture and history. NCCU takes good care of its international student community, planning new activities and trips most weekends for students to take part in. And the university classes themselves are as much fun as anything else (slide 7). Many of my classmates and I only have Mandarin as a language in common and so everyday conversation with them is a language exchange. I feel like I’ve improved so much just through casual conversations with new friends!

There has been so many opportunities for travel in Taiwan, and despite it being quite a small country, every place and landscape is so different and eye-opening! Apart from exploring the hills and mountains in and around Taipei (slide 9), visiting other cities such as Kaohsiung (slide 10), Tainan (slide 11), and Taichung (slide 12), and even further afield places like Matsu Islands (slide 13) is convenient and affordable.

Taiwan has felt so welcoming right from the beginning, making the difficult transition living in a different country much easier. Some of the moments I’ve felt most touched by Taiwanese 人情味 - hospitality/warmth - includes attending Taipei Pride in October (slide 14), trips to local temples (slide 15), celebrating the Ghost Festival in Keelung in September (slide 16/17), being introduced new dishes by Taiwanese friends (slide 18 - me trying Stinky Tofu for the first time which is now one of my favourites), and taking part in new creative experiences (slide 19).

There is only more to look forward to as I move into the last 4 months of my time here and I can’t wait!

24/02/2026

Join us to celebrate the Lantern Festival: The Grand Finale of Chinese New Year!

On Monday 2nd March 12-2, the Confucius Institute for Scotland will host an event to mark the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations and you are invited!!

Come and enjoy some traditional Chinese festive foods, sample some Chinese tea, and enjoy cultural activities and performances. There will also be an opportunity to learn more about the Confucius Institute and the range of courses we offer across the year.

All welcome, tickets are free but booking essential. Tickets can be ‘bought’ by following this link or using the link in our bio: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sAafLmkWiUWHiRCgaTTcYVzVKXSVjUhBm2yGH1kUMWVUQUJRVDJYMDdPSjRMODBGMVlWMkNOVFZWMi4u

12/02/2026

This is the link to book tickets https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scencfs-lecture-2026-tickets-1982780497844?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/02/2026

Join us for an informal afternoon conversation exploring how the China story is reported, shaped, and contested in 2026 — and why it matters both inside and beyond China. This event will be followed by a pub trip to The Pear Tree.

Oliver Pearce is the UK Executive Director for iMpact, the leading communications and marketing agency helping Chinese companies go global and reach international consumers, with offices in five countries, international PR advisor for BEYOND Expo, the largest consumer tech show in Asia, runs his own boutique reputation advisory firm in London, co-founder and board secretary of the China Correspondents’ Club of London and People’s Square London https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivercpearce/

He will also be bringing a reporter guest who works as a journalist for a very senior world wide financial and current affairs reporting firm in China.

09/02/2026