By Lu Xinyan

Mary, an American retiree, has spent more than four years teaching English to local residents in Ningbo as a volunteer.

Her journey began at the Confucius Institute at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC-CI), where she studied Chinese for free. The kindness she received there inspired her to give something back. She began teaching English to people in her community, also free of charge, and has continued to do so ever since.

On October 16, the Confucius Institute at UNNC marked its 10th anniversary. Professor Yao Shujie, its founding director and a former head of the Confucius Institute at the University of Nottingham in the UK, recalled: "From the very day it was established, we believed that the institute at Ningbo would play an increasingly important role in spreading Chinese culture and fostering cross-cultural exchange."

As the only Confucius Institute based in China, UNNC-CI was formally inaugurated on April 11, 2016. It welcomes international residents who want to learn Chinese, explore the country's culture and gain a deeper understanding of life in China. Its work also brings people from different backgrounds together, fostering greater cultural understanding through language learning and exchange.

Its overseas counterparts promote Chinese among local communities; UNNC-CI's classrooms instead bring together international faculty and students from a wide range of countries and cultural backgrounds.

The institute offers free Chinese courses, helping learners navigate the country's traditions and everyday customs as they settle into life in China.

Beyond pinyin and character drills, Chinese instructor Yuan Youna fills her lesson plans with practical "life hacks" for getting by in China.

"For beginners who have just arrived in China, everyday phrases matter, but so does understanding how contemporary Chinese society actually works," Yuan said. That material—the part that goes beyond conventional language teaching—is what students respond to most, and many come back to share how it played out in real life.

Cultural activities offer another way to experience life in China. During traditional festivals, international students and teachers take part in local celebrations, from writing Spring Festival couplets and solving lantern riddles to making zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival and mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival. These experiences give them a chance to learn about Chinese traditions by taking part in them.

Since it opened, UNNC-CI has taught more than 2,000 students from about 60 countries and regions—among them Germany, the US, South Africa, the UK and Chile—and has run over 400 sittings of the HSK, China's standard Chinese proficiency test. Many expatriates in Ningbo and the surrounding area have studied there, passed the exam and gone on to win government scholarships or work permits in China.