Natasha and Oliver are off to Beijing later today. They’re going to be supporting the Beijing end of East to East on Wednesday evening in the Courtyard at the Central Academy of Drama and see the premiere of the two winning plays from the recent online competition, both of which have now been turned into short films. We’ve seen rough cuts of Asif Kapadia’s version of Xing Ding’s My World, which is stunning, but have yet to see what 223 (a Beijing film director) has made of Ding Tian’s Goodbye Heaven. As well as their involvement in East to East, they’re going to busy meeting people to discuss plans for the summer, when the National Youth Theatre and 100 Words will be returning to Beijing.

Last Thursday, we went to Caister-on-Sea (in Norfolk) for the evening to see a performance by pupils from Caister First, Middle and High Schools of work inspired by 100 Words. Earlier in the year, we had run a six week programme of workshops in the First and High Schools, while other teachers had taken the ideas behind 100 Words and applied them in different ways. It was exciting to see the results. Short films of the First School pupils showed them learning Mandarin words for numbers and colours, and renacting the Chinese folk tale, The Ten Suns (in 100 words). Middle and High School students performed 50 and 100 word plays in Mandarin. Year 7 and Year 8 showcased a stunning dance piece based on interpretations of the characters for 1 to 7. Films of the High School students 10 word plays were also shown. The performances were extremely focused and the hall was packed with families and friends. None of the Caister schools teach Mandarin but they have thriving links with Dong Er Primary School and Middle School No 3 in Xuhui District, Shanghai. In a few weeks time, a group of 14 teachers and students will be visiting the Shanghai schools to share 100 Words material, while later in the summer term teachers from Shanghai schools will be coming to Caister. We’ll be meeting up with them all to hear how the project’s going and to plan the next phase. Thanks to Creative Partnerships Norfolk and the British Council World Links programme for all their support to-date.

Earlier in the week the Chinese judging panel announced the four finalists and the winner of the online competition run in partnership with British Council China and SOHU.com. The finalists are Fei Xiafeng with Another Day, Song Yidan with My World, Xie Yi with Cake World (shown during the BBC Blast/National Youth Theatre performance on 30 March) and Zhao Xi with Another Place. The winning script, submitted by Ding Tian from Shanghai Jiaotong University is Goodbye Heaven. Our thanks to the judging panel for their time and contribution.

A short film of Goodbye Heaven will be made in the next couple of weeks by the Chinese film director and photographer, 223. Meanwhile, award winning film director Asif Kapadia completed his shoot of Xing Ding’s script My World on Friday. Both films will be shown as part of East to East at Canary Wharf in London (at 13.00) and in the courtyard of the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing (at 20.00) on 30 April. 100 Words will be represented at both ends, with Natasha and Oliver Williams, an associate of the project, setting off for Beijing in a couple of weeks time.

This afternoon saw the launch of the Worlds Apart project at the National Youth Theatre’s headquarters in Holloway Road.and the announcement of the winning entry in the online creative writing competition run in partnership with BBC Blast. The ten young writers who had been shortlisted for the competition spent the morning in a writing workshop with Natasha Betteridge. After lunch, they took part in a Q&A session with some of the judges including the National Youth Theatre’s Artistic Director Paul Roseby and playwright Mark Ravenhill. Natasha, meanwhile, was putting the finishing touches on the afternoon’s programme which included performances of all ten shortlisted 100 word plays, two plays from the parallel competition being run in China and some short films. A talented cast of National Youth Theatre members had been put together especially for the performance and had spent a few days working with Natasha and Jennifer Lim, Assistant Director, on developing and rehearsing all the plays.

The final performance hit just the right note – informal, yet highly professional and very enjoyable. The plays were all inspired by the theme ‘My World – Being a Young Person in Britain Today’ and as ever with 100 Words projects, were very different in their approach. The quality was extremely high with four plays eventually shortlisted – Plural Life by Tom Lyons, Pathways by Mikel Iriarte, The Story of My Body by Roisin Nagle and I’m Not Growing Up by Amy Clarke. These will all be performed in Beijing later in the summer when Worlds Apart moves to China. The unanimous choice for the winning play was My World by Xing Bing, a thought-provoking exploration of how, as individuals, we all view and interpret the world differently. My World will now be turned into a short film, to be directed by award winning director Asif Kapadia and shown on 30 April 2008 at East to East, a free lunchtime event in East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf with a live link to a similar event in Beijing.

With thanks to all the writers (Matt Broomfield, Heather Brown, Hannah Brownlow, Amy Clarke, Xing Ding, Connie Greenfield, Mikel Iriarte, Tom Lyons, Roisin Nagle and Elidh Wagstaff), the cast (Asha Bhatt, Venetia Campbell, George Chilcott, Leaphia Darko, Ned Derrington, Joel Duncan, Tiburcio Fortes, Nelufar Hedayat, Sanya John Adegbola, Catherine Jones, Adam Price, Nancy Wallinger and Daniel Ward) and the technical team led by the National Youth Theatre’s Production Manager, Mark Beasley.

We’ve hardly drawn breath since arriving in Guangzhou on a warm Sunday evening. Immediately we set to work, having a business meeting with the British Council over delicious Cantonese food then pulling together presentation material for a meeting the following day with representatives from the Education Bureau and Foreign Affairs Office from Guangzhou Municipal Government. This was a crucial meeting and gave us the opportunity to present 100 Words to key officials in the local government. We also talked about the schedule for the following days, in particular the development of a 100 word play for the Twin City Conference next week, and a potential project activity plan for 2008. The Education Bureau seem very taken with the project and have suggested that it runs in all 22 schools in Guangzhou with links to counterparts in Birmingham. There’s a lot more talking to be done, but we all felt that the outcome from the meeting was extremely positive.

Monday afternoon was spent at Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School, seeing some plays that been developed and performed by students in a festival at the school last autumn. We then returned to our hotel, which overlooks the old city in west Guangzhou – it’s a fascinating area and we had the chance to have a quick look round in the early evening. Looking down from the hotel, the pedestrianised streets seem quietly busy. At street level, the noise is amazing with people stationed outside every shop trying to attract your attention by clapping, shouting and playing music. We ventured into an open air food market, were given plastic baskets and chose what we wanted to be cooked (mushrooms, tofu, corriander and a lot of chilli). It was then into a taxi to meet up with the Director of British Council Guangzhou. We checked out the cocktails at Wilber’s Bar, recently opened in a renovated house before returning to the hotel for late night drinks and chat.

Tuesday morning was spent visiting the British Council’s new office. They’ve introduced hot desking for all staff and a fantastic selection of bean bags and chairs. Decorations on the ceiling have been produced by the local fine art college. After yet more wonderful food (dim sum in Asia’s largest shopping centre) we then returned to the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School to run a workshop for 28 junior middle students. Some were from the GZOCFL School while others were from the Middle School attached to South China Normal University Nan Hai Campus, accompanied by their British Council-supported Language Assistant from the UK. They all had very good English language skills and were able to cope with the pace and speed of the workshop with ease, enthusiasm and enjoyment. In less than three hours, small groups of students had all written and performed 100 word plays, two of which will be developed into performance material for next week’s conference. We had dinner with the lovely teachers from GZOCFL School then a stint of work back at the hotel. They’ll be another workshop for teachers tomorrow afternoon and rehearsals with students on Thursday morning. For me, it’s back to Hong Kong in the evening for a return flight home after another exhilarating, rewarding China trip.

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.