Photo: Courtesy of British Council

Chinese netizens showed respect and paid tribute to renowned English writer Shakespeare on Chinese social media after UK international organization British Council launched an online English course for memorizing Shakespeare's 404th birth and death anniversary on Thursday.

British Council, the UK's international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, is offering a free six-week online course called Exploring English: Shakespeare.

The course mainly looks at Shakespeare's life and works including Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Tempest and Macbeth, according to an email that British Council sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Photo: Courtesy of British Council

The hashtag "Shakespeare lives" had earned 320 million views on China's twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Wednesday, with many Chinese netizens showing their interest in the course.

"Thank you for sharing. His classic works will never be outdated. The course enriched my learning recourse amid the COVID-19 pandemic," one Chinese netizen commented on Weibo.

"Although it is evident that the British Council is very proud that Shakespeare is British, I think he is a man for the whole world," said Lai Sheng-chuan, a playwright and theater director based on the island of Taiwan, in an interview with British Council.

Neil McLaren, the teacher of the course, told the Global Times that participants can listen and practice reading via this online course, and they can also record themselves speaking some of Shakespeare's lines. The course could offer a good opportunity for those students who plan to go to UK for an education to know more about British culture and improve their English skills.

Photo: Courtesy of British Council

Thursday is also World Book Day and World English Language Day and Matt Burney, Director of British Council China, told the Global Times that he hoped more people would use the event to read and sample Shakespeare's works to celebrate the meaningful day.

According to McLaren, more than 230,000 people have enrolled in this online course, and the main student groups are mainly located in Egypt, the UK, India, Italy, Spain and China.