Confucius Institutes diversify as language program grows

When Canadian pianist Roger Lord was performing at the Chinese New Year TV gala in 2013, one of the hosts was Mark Rowswell - better known by his Chinese name, Dashan, and for his mastery of Chinese cross-talk.

"We are both from Canada and have the same birthday, but I have always been envious of Dashan's ability to speak fluent Mandarin," says Lord.

That prompted Lord to register as a student at the Confucius Institute in his hometown of New Brunswick, which was formed in partnership with a university in Qufu, Shandong province - the hometown of Confucius - to offer Chinese-language courses and activities to the locals.