As China’s flagship platform for cultural diplomacy, the global expansion of Confucius Institutes has been shadowed by mounting controversy ‒ particularly in the West. Allegations have cast them as vehicles of propaganda, geopolitical influence, espionage, and even as threats to academic freedom or instruments of surveillance over Chinese students abroad. Are these claims justified? How do Confucius Institutes actually operate? Drawing on his unique experience as both a Chinese national and UK-based director, as well as a scholar of Chinese politics, the multi-volume project Memoirs of a Confucius Institute Director offers a rare insider’s perspective on this contested institution. This talk focuses on Volume I, which chronicles his directorship at Lancaster University Confucius Institute (2019–2025), tracing how the institute grew into an award-winning organisation while grappling with existential and structural challenges ‒ from the disruptions of COVID-19 to the dissolution of Confucius Institute Headquarters, and the Tory campaign to ban the institutes. Through this lived experience, the talk critically engages with the core allegations against Confucius Institutes, showing how Western media and political narratives often amplify genuine concerns yet oversimplify complexities ‒ misrepresenting the realities on the ground.

Professor Jinghan Zeng joined the City University of Hong Kong in April 2025, following a 13-year academic career in the UK. He is the author of Artificial Intelligence with Chinese Characteristics: National Strategy, Security and Authoritarian Governance (2022), Slogan Politics: Understanding Chinese Foreign Policy Concepts (2020), The Chinese Communist Party’s Capacity to Rule: Ideology, Legitimacy and Party Cohesion (2015), as well as over thirty refereed articles on Chinese politics. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Professor Zeng held the position of Professor of China and International Studies at Lancaster University and served as Director of its Confucius Institute for six years.