Following a long career at the University of Auckland, including seventeen years serving as the director of Confucius Institute in Auckland, Nora Yao announced her retirement from the CI and University effective this week.

Nora graduated from Shanghai International Studies University in China and moved to New Zealand in the early 1980s. After receiving her MA at UOA, she joined the Arts faculty and started a career as senior tutor in Chinese. In the past thirty years, she provide courses like Advanced Modern Chinese, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, etc., and is the co-author of the Chinese language textbooks, Fundamental written Chinese (2009) and Fundamental spoken Chinese (2009). She is the council member of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching （世界汉语教学学会）and a member of its expert panel of International Chinese Teaching Materials Development.

In 2005, the University of Auckland signed an MOU with China’s Ministry of Education to establish the country’s very first Confucius Institute on the campus. Nora has been taking the role of director since then, which made her the longest-serving CI director world-widely. Under her leadership, the Confucius Institute in Auckland has been recognized as one of the best CIs in the world and a Global Model CI, with numerous awards and many pioneering projects in facilitating Chinese language learning in New Zealand. Her contribution has been acknowledged with a ‘Distinguished Teaching Award’ from the University of Auckland and ‘Valued Contribution to the University Award’ by the Vice-Chancellor of the University twice, and an ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ by Confucius Institute Headquarters. She was awarded a ‘Good Citizen Award’ and a ‘Medal for Distinguished Women in Auckland’ from the Mayor of Auckland for her local community service.

Nora Yao has been a legend for her contribution and achievement in the field of Chinese language teaching in New Zealand, also a bridge-builder in fostering dialogue and mutual understanding between the peoples of New Zealand and China.

Her legacy will continue. The Chinese language teaching in New Zealand will flourish.

We wish Nora all the best and happy retirement!

Read More

Welcome Dr Xuelin Zhou – New CI Director

Dr Xuelin Zhou has been appointed as the new director of the Confucius Institute by the University of Auckland. As Nora’s successor, he has started his new role this month.

Xuelin is an Associate Professor in Media and Screen at the University of Auckland. His research interests cover popular culture in East Asia and Chinese-language film. A brief bio of him is available on Our Team page.