The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations. It aims to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries and to win recognition abroad for the country's creative ideas and achievements.

Founded in 1934, the British Council today operates in 109 countries and regions, and China is its largest operation. In mainland China, it operates as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing, and the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulates-General in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing. It also has a strong independent British Council operation in Hong Kong.

The British Council's main objective in China is to help develop excellent relations between the UK and China in the areas of education, culture, science and governance. We embrace this role with enthusiasm and recognise that we can achieve it only through working collaboratively with Chinese, British and international partners.

Law & Society: Building partnerships for reform

The British Council works in partnership with the legal, government, media and social sector professionals in the UK and China to enhance mutual understanding, particularly in the tackling of contemporary challenges facing society. As a cultural organisation, we respect the different development paths that countries have chosen to adopt. In China, we work with a wide range of government and professional experts and support their efforts to promote greater social justice, the rule of law and economic success.

Over the next few years, we will be emphasising work with China to explore how the UK and China can share ideas and experience of social innovation that contributes to a stronger and more people-centred social fabric. Form the UK side, we will be drawing on our early experience of creating national public-interest organisations such as the National Health Service and the BBC, and more recent innovations in areas such as childcare, crime prevention and chronic disease management, and more broadly in radical reform of public services. We will do this by bringing the most creative British minds and innovators to share their thinking with like-minded Chinese experts of similar stature. We will seek to expose the UK to the latest Chinese thinking, helping to create a better understanding of China in our own country.

Equal Opportunities & Diversity

The British Council values the diversity of the United Kingdom (UK) and the other countries it works in. It is committed to equality of opportunity and positive action to promote equality of opportunity.

Respecting diversity is at the heart of the British Council's mission and values and will be at the centre of our success.  We engage in demonstrating modernity, equality and multiculturalism through our centres world-wide and in everything we do we value individuals.