Binghamton University set to open Chinese Cultural Experience Center

VESTAL, N.Y. — The Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera (CICO) at Binghamton University will hold the grand opening of its new Chinese Cultural Experience Center this Saturday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The cultural center, located on the university’s campus in the lobby of the Glenn G. Bartle Library, will feature a large, interactive touch-screen television, a book exhibit on Beijing opera, a display with photos of CICO activities, and Beijing opera costumes that attendees may put on and have their pictures taken in, according to a Binghamton University news release.

Live Chinese instrumental music will accompany the grand opening.

The CICO is a nonprofit formed by the university and the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, according to its website. It is sponsored through the Confucius Institute program of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, better known as the Hanban, according to Carrie Buck, assistant to the director of the CICO at Binghamton University.

The CICO began setting the groundwork for the Chinese Cultural Experience Center in the summer of 2014, in a collaborative effort with the Bartle Library, after the Hanban requested a cultural center be built and provided the CICO with the large touch-screen TV, Buck says.

About $10,000 was spent between the Hanban and the library to assemble the center, she says.

The Chinese Cultural Experience Center is intended to be a permanent fixture at Binghamton University, with the books and pictures featured rotated from time to time, she adds.

After the grand opening, the CICO’s “Amazing China!” show will be held on campus at the Anderson Center for the Arts beginning at 7:30 p.m., according to the release. The show will include performances of Beijing opera and a Chinese magician.

Tickets cost $10 for the public; $8 for seniors and school faculty, staff, and alumni; and $3 for students.

The goal of the CICO is to help bridge the gap between the American and Chinese cultures, says Buck. It currently offers 11 classes, with a total attendance of about 300 students, she says.