Over the 5th - 7th July, the Confucius Institute were thrilled to host likely our largest conference event since our opening in 2011.

The British Chinese Language Teaching Society (BCLTS) Annual Conference of 2019 prompted the arrival of approximately 180 visitors to Lancaster University Confucius Institute. With the theme of the conference being "New Theories, New Approaches and Methodologies, New Issues and New Strategies in the Pedagogy of Teaching Chinese as an International Language", the event attracted a huge gathering of delegates from schools and universities across the UK, and also worldwide, with many flying in from China, Europe and further.

Of particular note were our Keynote Speakers for the conference:

• Prof. Wolfgang Tuebert (University of Birmingham, UK)
• Prof. Li Yuming (Beijing Language and Culture University, China)
• Prof. Feng Zhiwei (The Institute of Applied Linguistics, Ministry of Education, China)
• Prof. Liu Xun (Beijing Language and Culture University, China)
• Prof. Pan Wenguo (East China Normal University, China)
• Prof. Hong Lijian (Monash University, Australia)
• Prof. Zhao Yang (Beijing University, China)
• Dr. Li Mingfang (Regent University, UK)
• Prof. Zhu Yongping (University of Notre Dame, USA)

We are extremely grateful to them all for providing talks throughout the 3 day conference, with special thanks to Prof. Hong Lijan, who could not attend in person but instead was happy to give his talk via Skype from Australia. These were supported also by panel sessions on all 3 days, given by visitors to the conference having submitted their research topics to the BCLTS Committee. Further research was provided by academics who were invited to provide poster displays explaining their topics.

As well as the numerous talks and academic sessions held throughout the conference, the Confucius Institute was also extremely pleased to be able to hold a classical music concert as part of the proceedings, on the evening of Saturday 6th July. Mr. Yuanfan Yang, a multi-award winning piano player and composer, and Mr. Zhentao LI, a world-class singer from the Chinese National Opera & Dance Drama Theatre, provided a number of fantastic performances, supported by a group of extremely talented musicians from the University of Liverpool.

Finally, we would like to give thanks to the members of the BCLTS Committee who were pivotal in helping arrange the conference, and for their roles in chairing and leading many sections of the conference. Largely thanks to their support, the conference was celebrated as a huge success, and was even featured by China Global Television Network (CGTN).

It has been an honour to serve as the hosts for this conference, and we are very grateful to everyone who worked tirelessly to make this event such a success!