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Saudi Culture Minister Launches Arabic Language Month in China

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
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Saudi Culture Minister Launches Arabic Language Month in China

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan meets with Peking University President Gong Qihuang. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL) Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan launched the Arabic Language Month program in Beijing and Shanghai.

Organized by the academy between March 28 and April 26, the program consists of a series of scientific programs and activities organized in collaboration with several educational institutions to develop Arabic language teaching curricula, improve the performance of teachers, and make it more widely spread.

The program also includes visits and meetings with Chinese universities that offer academic programs in Arabic, and with associations and centers interested in teaching and spreading the Arabic language in China, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

KSGAAL Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah bin Saleh Al-Washmi said the academy works actively to promote the Arabic language, including through this program that will raise the academy profile and strive to teach Arabic foreign speakers, and train teachers and improve their teaching competencies.

The academy, in cooperation with Beijing Language and Culture University, is scheduled to hold a scientific competition targeting Arabic language learners, for three categories: recitation, storytelling, and Arabic calligraphy.

The program lasts for four weeks, three in Beijing and one in Shanghai, and as part of it, a scientific symposium and two discussion panels will be held, scientific visits will be conducted, as will four training courses for teachers, aimed at developing language proficiency skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), all focusing on employing active strategies in teaching Arabic as a second language.

The Arabic Language Month in China program is part of the "Scientific Programs on Arabic Language Teaching" project supervised by the KSGAAL. Several editions of the program have been implemented in several countries, such as India, Brazil, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia. The academy continues to offer this program as part of its international work at linguistic and cultural levels.

Also on Thursday, the Saudi Ministry of Culture announced the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China at the King Abdulaziz Public Library branch in Beijing.

The award will foster creative cooperation and further the cultural dialogue between Saudi Arabia and China by introducing the achievements of the two countries to the academic, cultural, media, literary, and artistic communities.

It recognizes the contribution of Chinese and Saudi researchers, artists, linguists, and translators, and offers a grant to winners to support their work. It is bound to enhance collaboration and shared creative production as well.

Following the announcement, Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr and Peking University President Gong Qihuang met to emphasize the university’s pivotal role in furthering cultural collaboration between Saudi Arabia and China.

Prince Bader said: “The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award is a fundamental pillar for building cultural bridges and boosting ties between China and Saudi Arabia through the arts, literature, and academic research.”

“I am delighted to announce the commencement of the awards, which will celebrate the cultural heritage of our two countries and pave the way for ongoing partnership, encouraging a deeper appreciation and understanding,” he added.

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award consists of four main categories: Cultural research and studies, including intellectual, literary, historical, artistic, and social research; artistic and creative works, including literature, visual and musical arts, short films, and technical or scientific creativity; Translations between the two languages, Including ISBN-identified works in the fields of culture, history, literature, and the arts; and the cultural personality of the year, given to one individual from each country who has made an outstanding contribution to culture through creativity, knowledge, and leadership.

Additional categories -- Young Researcher, Young Creator, and Young Translator -- are designed to encourage young Saudi and Chinese people to engage in cross-cultural communication.

Nominations are accepted from Saudi and Chinese individuals and government, private, and non-profit institutions. They can be submitted by completing the nomination form, which will be available on the award website.

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Cultural Cooperation Award will culminate in an annual ceremony celebrating the two nations' shared cultural talent and the winners in each category.

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Culture

Saudi Arabia: Ship of Tolerance Initiative Promotes Cultural Dialogue in Jeddah

The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (Wrth) will offer traditional craft workshops throughout Ramadan. SPA
The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (Wrth) will offer traditional craft workshops throughout Ramadan. SPA
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Saudi Arabia: Ship of Tolerance Initiative Promotes Cultural Dialogue in Jeddah

The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (Wrth) will offer traditional craft workshops throughout Ramadan. SPA
The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (Wrth) will offer traditional craft workshops throughout Ramadan. SPA

The Saudi Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the "Lenobadir" volunteer and community partnership program and the Athr Foundation, has launched the Ship of Tolerance initiative in Historic Jeddah during Ramadan.

The initiative aims to enhance shared human values through arts, and promote tolerance and coexistence among children and families. It provides an educational and cultural experience aligned with the area’s unique character as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

As part of this global art project, children will create artworks that represent acceptance and dialogue.

The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (Wrth) will offer traditional craft workshops throughout Ramadan, linking the initiative's values with local heritage and enriching visitors' connection to the region's identity.

This effort supports cultural programs with educational and social dimensions in Historic Jeddah, activating local sites for experiences that combine art, crafts, and community participation. It aligns with the National Strategy for Culture under Saudi Vision 2030, focusing on heritage preservation and expanding culture's impact on daily life.

Culture

Oscar Contender ‘Hamnet’ Boosts Tourism at Shakespeare Heritage Sites 

A view of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, William Shakespeare's childhood home, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A view of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, William Shakespeare's childhood home, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Oscar Contender ‘Hamnet’ Boosts Tourism at Shakespeare Heritage Sites 

A view of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, William Shakespeare's childhood home, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)
A view of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, William Shakespeare's childhood home, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, February 9, 2026. (Reuters)

On a cloudy winter's day, visitors stream into what was once William Shakespeare's childhood home in Stratford-upon-Avon and the nearby Anne Hathaway's cottage, family residence of the bard's wife.

Hathaway's cottage is one of the settings for the BAFTA and Oscar best film contender "Hamnet", and the movie's success is drawing a new wave of tourists to Shakespeare sites in the town in central England.

Shakespeare's Birthplace is the house the young William once lived in and where his father worked as a glove maker, while Hathaway's cottage is where he would have visited his future wife early in their relationship.

Typically, around 250,000 visitors, from the UK, Europe, the United States, China and elsewhere, walk through the locations each year, according to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. ‌The charity looks after ‌Shakespeare heritage sites, which also include Shakespeare's New Place, the site of ‌the ⁠Stratford home where the ⁠bard died in 1616.

Visitors are flocking in this year thanks to "Hamnet", the film based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, which gives a fictional account of the relationship between Shakespeare and Hathaway, also known as Agnes, and the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet in 1596.

"Visitor numbers have increased by about 15 to 20% across all sites since the film was released back in January. I think that will only continue as we go throughout the year," Richard Patterson, chief operating officer for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said.

"They particularly want ⁠to look (at) Anne Hathaway's cottage and the specifics around how the family ‌engaged in the spaces and the landscape in and around ‌the cottage... you can see why he would have been inspired."

NEW ACCESS TO SHAKESPEARE

"Hamnet" has 11 nominations at ‌Sunday's British BAFTA awards, including best film and leading actress for Jessie Buckley, who plays Agnes. It ‌also has eight Oscar nominations, with Buckley seen as the frontrunner to win best actress.

"Hamnet" is set in Stratford-upon-Avon and London although it was not filmed in Stratford.

It sees Paul Mescal's young Shakespeare fall for Agnes while teaching Latin to pay off his father's debts. The drama, seen mainly through Agnes' eyes, focuses on their ‌life together and grief over Hamnet's death, leading Shakespeare to write "Hamlet".

"Shakespeare... is notoriously enigmatic. He writes about humanity, about feeling, about emotion, about conflict, ⁠but where do we understand ⁠who he is in that story?" said Charlotte Scott, a professor of Shakespeare studies and interim director of collections, learning and research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

"And that's driven people creative and otherwise for hundreds and hundreds of years. Where is Shakespeare's heart? And this is what the film I think has so beautifully opened up."

Little is known about how the couple met. Shakespeare was 18 and Hathaway 26 when they married in 1582. Daughter Susanna arrived in 1583 and twins Judith and Hamnet in 1585.

The film acknowledges the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable back then. While grief is a dominant theme, audiences also see Shakespeare in love and as a father.

"A lot of people will see this film not necessarily having... had any kind of relationship with Shakespeare," Scott said.

"So people will come to this film, I hope, and find a new way of accessing Shakespeare that is about creativity, that is about understanding storytelling as a constant process of regeneration, but also crucially, looking at it from that kind of emotive angle."

Culture

Culture Ministry Continues Preparations in Historic Jeddah to Welcome Visitors during Ramadan 

Historic Jeddah has emerged as a leading cultural tourism destination during Ramadan. (SPA)
Historic Jeddah has emerged as a leading cultural tourism destination during Ramadan. (SPA)
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Culture Ministry Continues Preparations in Historic Jeddah to Welcome Visitors during Ramadan 

Historic Jeddah has emerged as a leading cultural tourism destination during Ramadan. (SPA)
Historic Jeddah has emerged as a leading cultural tourism destination during Ramadan. (SPA)

The Saudi Ministry of Culture is continuing its efforts to revitalize Historic Jeddah in preparation for welcoming visitors during the holy month of Ramadan, offering cultural programs, events, and heritage experiences that reflect the authenticity of the past.

The district has emerged as a leading cultural tourism destination at this time of year as part of the “The Heart of Ramadan” campaign launched by the Saudi Tourism Authority.

Visitors are provided the opportunity to explore the district’s attractions, including archaeological sites located within the geographical boundaries of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed area, which represent a central component of the Kingdom’s urban and cultural heritage.

The area also features museums that serve as gateways to understanding the city’s rich heritage and cultural development, in addition to traditional markets that narrate historical stories through locally made products and Ramadan specialties that reflect authentic traditions.

These initiatives are part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to revitalize Historic Jeddah in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and aiming to transform it into a vibrant hub for arts, culture, and the creative economy, while preserving its tangible and intangible heritage.