In early August 2011, Dr. Qiu Xiaolong, a well-known Chinese-American writer, was invited by the Confucius Institute at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to attend a series of academic activities at UNSW, and to serve as a part-time faculty member teaching literature writing at UNSW. During the academic series, Dr. Qiu served as a keynote lecturer for the "China Talks", a large public lecture series sponsored by the UNSW Confucius Institute, and shared his experience with his UNSW colleagues.

At the "China Talks" carried out on August 9th, Prof. Qiu discussed with Australian Financial Review senior journalist Colleen Ryan the transformation of China over the past three decades, and answered questions from the audience regarding the styles, themes and translation of his writings. The lecture attracted about 160 UNSW teachers and students as well as local citizens. They learned more about Chinese language, culture and society with the help of Qiu's writings and lecture.

During his stay at UNSW, Prof. Qiu gave lectures to UNSW undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in writing, Chinese language and translation, shared his experience in English writing and translation, winning high praises from the UNSW teachers and students. Prof. Qiu also conducted in-depth academic communication and exchange with Chairman of UNSW Writers'Society Prof. Stephen Muecke and Associate Professor Jon von Kowallis, Department of Chinese.

UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Richard Henry was present at the reception in honour of Dr. Qiu Xiaolong, and he expressed his congratulations to Qiu for joining UNSW. The Australia Broadcasting Corporation had an exclusive interview with Dr. Qiu and reported on the "China Talks" lecture.

During his stay in Australia, Dr. Qiu visited Jackson's Bay in Sydney together with some local people from the fields of culture and education. By arrangement of the UNSW Confucius Institute, he visited Braidwood, a town in New South Wales, and talked with local book club members. He also visited Canberra, the capital of Australia, and the exhibition hall of aboriginal art in the National Gallery of Australia. He was deeply impressed by Australia's natural beauty and dynamic lifestyle. In front of the audience members present at the "China Talks", Dr. Qiu disclosed that maybe he will bring his hero, an inspector called Chen to Sydney in the near future.

Dr. Qiu has written 7 books of the inspector named Chen series. His books have sold over a million copies and are published in more than 20 languages, including English, German, French and Chinese. In addition to novels, his translations of T.S. Elliot's poems and classical Chinese poetry have also been published. The Inspector Chen series is set in Shanghai in the early 1990s, representing the changes that took place in Shanghai from the perspective of a inspector whose first name was Chen, and thus helping the readers gain insights into both traditional and modern Chinese language and culture.