Liu Yandong: working together to open up new prospects for the development of Confucius Institutes

The 11th Confucius Institute Conference was held in Kunming on December 10th. Madam Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the State Council and Chairwoman of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, attended and addressed the conference, and presented such awards as “Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award”, “Confucius Institute (Classroom) of the Year” and “Outstanding Confucius Institute Chinese Partner”.

The Council Meeting of Confucius Institute Headquarters convened

Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the State Council, delivering a speech at the council meeting

Chen Baosheng, Minister of Education, making a speech at the council meeting

Hao Ping, Vice Minister of Education, giving a speech at the council meeting

In her speech at the conference, Mdm. Liu noted that President Xi Jinping once pointed out that Confucius Institutes belonged to China, and they also belonged to the world. Since they were first launched 12 years ago, with joint efforts by Chinese and overseas partners and personnel from various social sectors, the Confucius Institutes are making steady progress to continuously enhance the education quality, expand service capabilities and improve operation mechanisms, thus injecting new vitality into their sustainable development. To date, 511 Confucius Institutes and 1,073 Confucius Classrooms have been established in 140 countries and regions, with an enrolment of 2.1 million students. The Confucius Institute has become a “bridge builder” for exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations as well as a pivotal window for the world to know China and for China to strengthen its friendship and cooperation with other countries.

Chen Baosheng, Minister of Education, chairing the opening ceremony of the 11th Confucius Institute Conference

Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the State Council, addressing the opening ceremony of the 11th Confucius Institute Conference

Mdm. Liu stressed that in modern times, it is a common aspiration of people all over the world to establish a new type of international relations focusing on win-win cooperation and jointly build a mutually inclusive community of common destiny. The Confucius Institute, taking “innovation, cooperation, inclusion and sharing” as its mission, should deepen its reform and innovation in teachers, teaching materials and teaching methodology, expand its functions and improve the teaching quality, so as to bring out the full potential of the development. We should fully leverage the initiative of Chinese and foreign partner universities to improve the mechanism of Confucius Institute boards and enhance in-depth integration of educational cooperation. More efforts should be made to push forward the localization of Confucius Institutes and carry out open-door education so as to facilitate civilizations to learn from and complement each other. The Confucius Institute should channel active efforts into serving the development of the “Belt and Road”, supporting the cooperation among Confucius Institutes in different regions and countries, so as to benefit people of different countries and make fresh contributions to the development of diverse and brilliant civilizations.

A group photo of Vice Premier of the State Council Liu Yandong and winners of “Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award”, representatives of “Confucius Institute (Classroom) of the Year” and “Outstanding Confucius Institute Chinese Partner”

A total of 2,200 delegates including university presidents and representatives of Confucius Institutes from 140 countries and regions attended the conference.

KUNMING, December 10 (Xinhua News Agency)