MCLC: new Confucius Institute for food and wine

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Sheldon Lu <shlu at ucdavis.edu>
Subject: new Confucius Institute for food and wine
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A Confucius Institute devoted to the culture of Chinese wine and beverage
is officially opened at the University of California at Davis on September
16, 2013.  Isn't it funny? See the piece below.

Sheldon

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Source: UC Davis News and Information (9/9/13):
http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10661

Confucius Institute at UC Davis to focus on food, beverage culture

[Martin Yan on the Confucius Institute <http://youtu.be/hihe9lDtnWA> Video
(1 min 43 sec) Videography by UC Davis]

A new institute devoted to Chinese food and beverage culture — the first
of its kind in the world — is getting cooking at the University of
California, Davis.

The public is invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Confucius
Institute at UC Davis featuring Chinese song and dance at the Mondavi
Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 16.

And people from near and far will be welcomed again as the institute
offers a savory program of courses, lectures, workshops and other events
on Chinese food and beverage, culture and language.

The institute combines signature strengths of UC Davis and China's
Jiangnan University as world leaders in food and beverage science and
technology, with the goal of promoting understanding of Chinese food and
beverage culture. In addition to fostering education and research, the
institute will encourage conversation between the food and beverage
industries of China and California.

Linda P.B. Katehi, chancellor of UC Davis, said the Confucius Institute at
UC Davis adds to the university's world-class stature. "UC Davis offers
these experiences to prepare our students for global citizenship, enrich
the diversity of our community and share our leading scholarship in
collaborations around the world."

In a letter to Katehi, Xi Jinping, president of China, wished the new
institute success. "Learning each other's language and culture will be
helpful to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the
Chinese and American people and to promote the growth of China-U.S.
relations," he said.

The president was first connected to UC Davis more than 20 years ago as a
secretary of a municipal committee. He invited Elizabeth Gardner, the
widow of UC Davis physics professor Milton Gardner, to visit Guling,
China, to discover the beloved childhood home that her husband remembered
on his death bed.

Since 2004, the Hanban arm of the China's Ministry of Education has
partnered with universities and other organizations to establish more than
400 institutes worldwide to promote understanding of Chinese culture.
There are more than 90 Confucius Institutes in the United States —
including four others in California at UCLA, Stanford University, and San
Diego and San Francisco state universities — but the one at UC Davis is
the first in the world devoted to Chinese food and beverage culture.

UC Davis is known globally for its achievements related to food and
beverages. Its programs in food science and technology, winemaking,
brewing and nutrition are rooted in some of the foundational disciplines
of the University of California. In these programs, researchers and
students explore the scientific, technological, cultural, economic and
health facets of foods and beverages.. . .