The Confucius Institute of the State of Washington (CIWA) was the first statewide Confucius Institute. It was a joint effort of the Office of the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) in Beijing and the University of Washington, Seattle Public Schools, and the Alliance for Education (serving as fiscal agent) in Washington State, in partnership with the Office of the Governor and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. It was established under an agreement signed in China on September 11, 2009 and an honorific Memorandum of Understanding signed at the University of Washington on April 26, 2010 by Governor Chris Gregoire, Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools Maria Goodloe-Johnson, University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise, and Director-General of Hanban Madame Xu Lin. The official partner institutions in China were Sichuan University and Chongqing Municipal Education Commission as the K-12 partner (after 2000, replaced by Chongqing Jiaotong University).
Beginning in 2020, the higher education partner for CIWA moved to Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Seattle Public Schools continued to provide leadership for Chinese language and culture in K-12 schools. In summer, 2026, CIWA was officially closed by Pacific Lutheran University.
We hope you’ll enjoy some of the pictures that we created over the years to highlight the work of the Confucius Institute of the State of Washington. All photographs copyright Stefanie Felix.
(Click on each image to see the full photo book.)
