Russian children attend a Chinese characters competition at a Confucius Institute in Vladivostok in February. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Expanding vision

In May, the team carried out a workshop called Visioning Dunhuang. During the weeklong session, artists and experts from Russia, Ethiopia, China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the US were able to view Dunhuang art in its authentic setting and meet artists and scholars from the Dunhuang Academy.

Yulia Mylnikova, a China expert and director of the Confucius Institute at Saint Petersburg University, Russia, described it as a "creative and forward-looking initiative that brought artists and researchers with creative thinking together" .

"The approach adopted in this trip was timely and important and it has led to a number of interesting programs," Mylnikova wrote in her feedback.

According to Jain, the next workshop is planned for December. Twenty-five renowned artists will be participating.

For Jain, what began as a short-term collaboration with the Getty Center around the Dunhuang exhibition has become a major international arts initiative for UCLA that will connect to major cultural and educational partners around the world over the next 10 years.

"The project will tap the network of educational partners created through the Confucius Institute initiative," says Jain, who was speaking in Beijing in September during a visit to attend the 2017 Confucius Institute Open Day. The theme of this year's conference was "My story with Confucius Institute" .

Directors, Chinese language teachers, volunteers and students of the Confucius Institute branches, as well as writers, scholars, filmmakers and entrepreneurs were invited to share their stories and connotations of bridging the exchanges between Chinese and foreign cultures in terms of language education, art, music, literature, films and technology.

More than 360 Confucius Institute branches in more than 100 countries were celebrating the Confucius Institute Open Day at the same time.