On the evening of May 15, ahead of the International Museum Day, the live stream event Museum Tour: Jingdezhen Online Classroom was successfully held at the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum. Co-hosted by the School of International Chinese Language Education of Beijing Normal University (BNU), the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, and Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, and supported by the Publicity Office of BNU, the event echoed the theme of International Museum Day 2026 — Museums Uniting a Divided World. Adopting an immersive virtual tour and an all-English live broadcast, the activity built a new channel for Sino-foreign cultural exchanges, enabling Chinese porcelain culture to cross borders and reach young audiences worldwide.

Breaking the format of conventional online lectures, the live stream adopted an on-site immersive exploration featuring walking and explaining, with the entire session delivered in English and open to global audiences. Wang Zhenzhu, Vice Dean of the School of International Chinese Language Education at BNU, and Weng Yanjun, Director of Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, jointly launched the event. He Shiyi, an international student from BNU, served as the host, leading global audiences on a virtual tour of the Imperial Kiln Museum and the centuries-old Xu Family Kiln alongside Weng Yanjun. During the live broadcast, national treasures including chicken cups, Sui Sui Duck cultural relics and dragon-patterned vases were displayed, together with intangible cultural heritage kiln-firing techniques and traditional porcelain-making procedures. The 45-minute live session featured compact content and an innovative format, combining knowledge with entertainment and allowing overseas audiences to intuitively appreciate the unique charm of Chinese ceramic culture in authentic contextual scenarios.

The live stream garnered enthusiastic responses from young people at home and abroad. Teachers and students from Lancaster University and local primary and secondary schools in the UK watched the session collectively and posted numerous comments. Students expressed their fondness for Chinese porcelain and raised active questions: how to purchase Sui Sui Duck and other cultural and creative products, what kind of porcelain-ware suits different types of tea, and what makes Jingdezhen distinctive in the global ceramic art sector, reflecting their keen interest in Chinese culture and lifestyle. Online audiences across the globe also liked and commented on the live stream, acknowledging that the youthful and international presentation facilitated the friendly sharing and mutual appreciation of traditional Chinese culture.

After the event, He Shiyi shared her insights: “I have gained abundant knowledge about ceramics from this activity, and I hope this live stream has enabled more people to perceive the glamour of traditional Chinese culture.”

As an innovative educational practice integrating culture, language and technology, the event took museums as the carrier, digital technology as the medium, and youth exchange as the core, realizing three significant connections: linking Jingdezhen with Lancaster University, connecting traditional ceramic culture with contemporary youth, and bridging Chinese culture and global civilizations. It marks a crucial exploration of international talent cultivation by the School of International Chinese Language Education of BNU, committed to nurturing young people at home and abroad with global vision, cultural awareness and cross-cultural communication capabilities, and promoting the external sharing and mutual learning of outstanding traditional Chinese culture. Wang Zhenzhu stated, “We aim to take museums as bridges and online courses as media to help international young people perceive and understand China in authentic scenarios. In the future, the School of International Chinese Language Education at BNU will continuously optimize the integrated education model and develop more high-quality cultural exchange programs for global youth.”