The Confucius Institute at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (CI-UHM) was established in November 2006. We were the sixth U.S. CI to have been established; now there are nearly a hundred such Institutes and about twice that number of Confucius Classrooms in the country. Like all other Confucius Institutes (CIs), its mission is to promote 1) Chinese language teaching and learning; 2) knowledge about Chinese culture; 3) and educational exchanges with China.

In the eight years since inception, we have worked within the university, reached into the school system, connected with the general community, and encouraged exchanges with China. It has been exhilarating to have the pipeline to China, to finally have significant funding for instructional and outreach strands we had been struggling for decades to maintain on a wing and a prayer. CI support has been a breath of fresh air: the program is free and unrestrained by comparison with many funding sources—all activities that support the basic mission of the program, to promote Chinese language education, Chinese cultural studies, and exchange with China, are eligible and are often supported.

Playing on the pre-existing strengths in our own institution, the CI-UHM specializes in training in Chinese language pedagogy, in addition to the plethora of activities most Institutes undertake—language classes, speech/calligraphy contests, lectures, film festivals, performances, symposia and conferences, study in China. CI support has allowed us to do much better, and much more of, what we had originally striven to do, and would continue to strive to do if this support were withdrawn.

Across the U.S., CI support has underwritten a wide range of foci. Chinese film has been heavily promoted by the CIs of the University of South Carolina and the University of California-Los Angeles. The CI of the University of Michigan specializes in music, of the University of Oklahoma in literature, and of Binghamton University (SUNY) in Jingju (Chinese opera). The CI of the University of Chicago is research-focused, whereas as the CI hosted by Chicago Public Schools offers Chinese language instruction to over 12,000 students in 43 schools. The CI at the University of Pittsburgh teaches Chinese to nearly 4,000 students in 15 counties in Pennsylvania and Ohio, though a combination of in-person teaching and distance learning. The CI of Michigan State University builds platforms for Chinese language learning online. The State University of New York runs a CI for Business, and a CI emphasizing Traditional Chinese Medicine has opened at the Georgia Regents University, with a brain scientist as founding director and a link to a comprehensive academic health center.

Of course there have been many challenges that come along with the boon of the CI. Many CI directors groan in frustration as the latest "anti-Confucius Institute" volley is levied against us, generally in the media. Most U.S. directors of CIs are academics with decades of experience, and none of us takes "academic freedom" lightly. Therefore, my answer to the often-asked question "Does Confucius Institute funding threaten academic freedom at U.S. universities?" is a categorical “No; if Confucius Institute (or any other external) funding were to seriously threaten academic freedom, we would cease to accept that funding.”

The Chinese have a saying that I interpret as "If you live to old age, may you learn to old age." Figuring out how to cope with Chinese and U.S. agencies and individuals through constantly changing circumstances is a part of that learning, and if doing so supports significant intellectual undertakings, I hope I'm lucky enough to continue learning till the end of my productive years.