9 February 2019
At the end of the Chinese lunar year of 2018, Lou Wei, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), and his delegation visited the United Kingdom and Belgium for seven days at the invitation of the relevant foreign organizations. During the visit, Party Secretary Lou Wei reached a preliminary consensus with Gavin Henderson, Director of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama of the University of London, and held friendly talks and exchanges with Lord Clement-Jones CBE, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, leader of the British creative industries and chairman designate of the council of the Queen Mary University of London, and William Harris, Dean of the School of Media at the Regent University of London, and extended the invitation for them to visit the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation also visited the EU-Asia Center and the Chinese Culture Center in Brussels and met with the performance group from the Shanghai Theatre Academy which had been assigned by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism to participate in the Chinese New Year celebration activities of the overseas Chinese in Europe.
On 28 January, at the invitation of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, Party Secretary Lou Wei attended the "Chinese New Year Reception for British Educational Circles" hosted by the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. On the evening of 28January, Party Secretary Lou Wei was invited to watch the Chinese New Year Gala entitled "Our Journey and Our Dreams" sponsored by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association UK and supported by the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Over 1500 Chinese and foreign audiences watched the gala. The gala began in the performance of the poetic dance "Red" elaborately created by the Shanghai Theatre Academy, while the entire program of performances including “Beautiful Scenery” etc performed by the students of the Dance College of the Shanghai Theatre Academy were warmly welcomed by the audience.
On 29 January, the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom held the "CSSAUK Chinese New Year Gala Wrap-up & Thank-you Reception”. Before the reception started, Secretary Lou Wei held a meeting with Wang Yongli, Minister-Counsellor (Education) of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom. Later, Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation called on the Culture Department of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom. Xiang Xiaowei, Minister-Counsellor (Education), warmly welcomed Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation, and expressed his willingness to support the cooperation between the Shanghai Theatre Academy and the relevant universities and cultural institutions in the United Kingdom to the fullest extent.
On 30 January, at the invitation of Gavin Henderson, Director of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama of the University of London, Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation paid an official visit to RCSSD. During the meeting, the two sides jointly hoped that the two schools would strengthen cooperation in the areas of performance education and talent training with carefully designed joint programs for talent training.
On 31 January, Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation went to Belgium where they visited the EU-Asia Center. Piet Steel, president corporate of the center, introduced the general situation of the center and hoped to further enhance the width and depth of the cooperation with the Shanghai Theatre Academy and make joint efforts for the further growth of China-EU cultural cooperation.
On 1 February, Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation visited the Chinese Culture Center in Brussels. Ge Yiyou, director of the center, greeted Party Secretary Lou Wei and his delegation and introduced the establishment background and current situation of the Chinese Culture Center in Brussels, and took the delegation for a tour of the teaching facilities at the centre. Liu Guangyong, Deputy Director-General of the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, also joined the visit.
On 2 February, Party Secretary Lou Wei and his party went to Antwerp where they met with the teachers and students of the Shanghai Theatre Academy who were there to participate in the "2019 Spring Festival Performance Tour" as the performers and supporting staff. Secretary Lou Wei said that the performance group should be proud for being able to represent the Shanghai Theatre Academy at overseas. He hoped that everyone would attach great importance to it and show the good style and features of the students of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
In the following year, the Shanghai Theatre Academy will continue to follow its development goals of accelerating the process of building a domestically leading and internationally first-class art university which have set at the 2nd CPC Congress of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. It will seize the opportunity of pushing forward the construction of high-level local universities to further deepen its cooperation and exchange with the Royal Central Speech and Drama Institute of the University of London and other foreign institutions of higher education and strive to create a new situation for its international cooperation and exchange.
