‘How’s the craic?’: Micheál Martin visits China’s only comprehensive institute for Irish studies in Beijing

First on the whistle, then on the flute, Chu Jaylin performed The Foggy Dew, Dusty Windowsills and Red-Haired Boy followed by three polkas with Li Ziwei on bodhrán. Chu stepped forward to address the audience after the first set.

“How’s the craic?” he said.

This was Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) where Tánaiste Micheál Martin was visiting the Irish Studies Centre, China’s only comprehensive, multi-disciplinary institute for Irish studies. As he arrived, students waving Chinese and Irish flags called out “Fáilte, a Thánaiste” and the centre’s publications include a Chinese textbook for beginners in Irish.

“Some of the students are postgraduates from the Irish Studies Centre and the Gaeilge is one of the modules they must take because we think it’s a source for them to understand Irish culture and society more deeply,” said Zhang Junhan, one of the lecturers in Irish.

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“There’s another bunch of graduate students from all over the university, from the law school, the business school, other language faculties. They study Irish as an optional module only because they are interested in this language and this country.”

BFSU is one of China’s most prestigious universities, teaching 101 languages and educating generations of the country’s diplomats including three former ambassadors to Ireland. The Irish Studies Centre’s programmes cover Irish language, literature, culture, history, politics and international relations and one of its senior figures Wang Zhanpeng is an expert on Brexit.

Last December, Wang and the centre’s director Chen Li went to Dublin to receive the Presidential Distinguished Service Award. Chen has done more to promote Irish writing in China than any other individual, introducing writers such as Anne Enright and Colin Barrett who are now translated into Chinese, alongside many others including John Banville, Colm Tóibín and Sally Rooney.

In his speech, Martin spoke about Ireland’s relationship with China and the importance of people-to-people contacts and of frank dialogue between the two countries. Then he moved on to the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, human rights and the importance of civil society.

“A vibrant civil society enables, not hinders, States in meeting meet their international obligations. This has certainly been our experience in Ireland. Civil society has played a central part in creating a fairer society, in driving sustainable development, promoting gender equality, and supporting the rights of minorities,” he said.

“Civil society also played an extraordinary role in resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland, and remains at the core of efforts to embed peace and reconciliation across the island of Ireland. This experience informs our view that States should defend and promote civil society participation. Of course, that is not always straightforward. Governments and civil society groups often disagree on how the universal human rights that we have all agreed to at a global level should be interpreted and implemented at national level.”

After the Tánaiste’s speech to students, Chen invited questions from the floor, which included one on climate change and another on what his favourite Irish beauty spots were. At the end, he returned to the stage to join a group of students in reciting “When I am Old”, the most popular WB Yeats poem in China, in three languages: English, Chinese and Irish.