The Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University has offered special “white glove” tours of its archives for the past three years, but an event coming up next month is a bit different: The tour will be conducted in Mandarin Chinese.

Jean Bischoff, senior archivist at the Dole Institute, said the idea came about in part because KU has the Confucius Institute, which promotes understanding of Chinese language and culture.

“We thought that maybe they would want to bring some students, and there are also lots of graduate students with families,” Bischoff said.

The tour will be at 11 a.m. June 16 and will include artifacts given to former Sen. Bob Dole by heads of state and businessmen during his trips to East Asian countries. It will be led by Flora Hsu, an archival volunteer at the institute who once was a nationally certified tour guide in her native Taiwan.

The institute also will offer an English-language tour that day at 10 a.m.

The tour is free, but reservations are required. Reservations can be made by calling 864-1420 or 864-1405. They also can be made by e-mailing bischoff@ku.edu or asweets@ku.edu.