We’re excited to be returning to Guangzhou this weekend at the invitation of British Council Guangzhou. Since launching the creative language learning programme at Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School last September we have been in regular contact with British Council Guangzhou regarding the possibility of developing a longer term project involving linked schools in Guangzhou and Birmingham. We were delighted to hear just before Christmas that the British Council has secured the support of Guangzhou Municipal Government and one of the reasons for this trip is to meet with the Education Bureau and Foreign Affairs Office to plan a joint progamme of work for 2008/09. Li Ruru and Jude Wright will also be running workshops for up to 20 students and 20 teachers/language assistants, and identifying potential 100 word plays that can be showcased at a Twin City Conference to be held in Guangzhou later in the month. It will be a very intense trip as we arrive Sunday evening and will have left by Thursday afternoon, but we’re all greatly looking forward to it. It will also be good to see British Council Guangzhou colleagues again – their support of and enthusiasm for 100 Words from the outset has been exemplary.

We were very proud to be at the annual British Council HSBC Education Conference on Tuesday where Simon Heale , Chief Executive of CHINA NOW, launched the CHINA NOW 100 Words Schoools Competition. Taking the theme of ‘cultural similarities and differences’, the competition is open to secondary schools in China and the UK which are already working in partnership together. Students in each linked school are encouraged to write 100 word plays, one in English to be filmed by the Chinese school and one in Chinese to be filmed by the British school. The films are then posted onto a secure website where the partner schools will be able to see each others’ plays and make suggestions for changes up until the entry deadline. Schools have just under three months to write and make their films, which will be judged by a panel of experts drawn from China and the UK. There are two first prizes, which will enable up to five students and one member of staff from two Chinese schools to visit the UK in October 2008 for a week-long programme with their partner schools. Further information about the competition is available from office@chinanow.org.uk

The CHINA NOW 100 Words Schools Competition has been generously supported by HSBC and is part of CHINA NOW’s education programme. CHINA NOW – the UK’s largest ever festival of Chinese culture – takes place in 2008 to coincide with the Chinese New Year and continues through to the Beijing Olympics. With over 800 events across the UK, CHINA NOW will showcase the very best of modern Chinese society and culture, and offer an insight into China ’s history. For more information check out www.chinanow.org.uk

The Chinese New Year kicks off today, with the Year of the Pig giving way to the Year of the Rat. We celebrated yesterday with Sean from Neocha, the Shanghai based company which has designed our logo. Sean’s in the UK for a few days and we couldn’t resist a dumpling lunch in London’s Chinatown. The streets looked stunning with all the red lanterns strung across them. We stopped outside one of the restaurants to buy some dragon beard sweets – Natasha will be showing them to young people at Caister High School today, where we’re continuing our 100 Words workshop programme (it’s week five out of six). This year, there are more events than ever celebrating the start of the Chinese New Year, and we’re hoping to catch films, performances and lion dances over the next few days.

Just ahead of the Spring Festival, we’ve been able to get the online competition up and running in China. The competition is open to young people in China aged 13 to 25 and we’re asking for 100 word plays that express what it means to be a young person in China today.

SOHU.com is our online media partner for this project. As one of China’s top tier internet media organisations and the official online partner for Beijing 2008, we’re sure that the competition will get a lot of exposure. Further details are available at:

http://news.sohu.com/s2008/100words/

We’re also delighted that British Council China is promoting the competition on its website – check out the following link (this takes you through to the Chinese language version; click on the flag at the top of the page to access the competition announcement in English):

http://www.britishcouncil.org/zh/china-arts-drama-100words

Judging panels have been put together in both China and the UK, and we’re looking forward to reading the entries next month!

Since our return from Beijing last month, we’ve been busy advancing plans with the National Youth Theatre for 100 Words activity on screen, on stage and online.

Last week we were delighted to launch an online creative writing competition in partnership with BBC Blast and the National Youth Theatre. 13 to 19 year olds are being set the challenge of writing a 100 word play based on ‘My World – being a young person in the UK today’. The winning play will be made into a short film and broadcast simultaneously on big screens in London and Beijing later this year. We’re looking for strong and imaginative plays with just 100 words of dialogue that demonstrate creativity and originality, tackle the theme of ‘My World’ sensitively, reflect contemporary life, appeal to an international audience, and both translate well on stage and can be adapted into a short film. The closing date for entries is 14 March 2008 – check out the following link for further details:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/writing/showcase/competition/

This week, the competition launches in China in partnership with SOHU.com and British Council China. We’ll be posting details of the relevant website links here soon.