Confucius Institute Established in Borl?nge of Sweden

On the morning of April 13th, a government delegation of Borl?nge, Sweden visited the Confucius Institute Headquarters. Authorized by Mr. Jan Boman, Mayor of Borl?nge, Ms. Mari Jonsson, Deputy Mayor signed the Agreement on the Joint Establishment of the Confucius Institute of Sister Cities Between Wuhan and Borl?nge with Ma Jianfei, Deputy Director-General of the Confucius Institute Headquarters. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Lars Walter, Director of Childcare and Education Department of Borl?nge; Jorg Bassek, Head of International Department of Borl?nge; Liu Ligang, Deputy Inspector of Hubei Provincial Department of Education; Zhang Xingping, President of Jianghan University; Dong Yipin, Director of Higher Education Department of Wuhan Educational Bureau and others.

Borl?nge is an autonomous region of Dalarna in central Sweden. It is the largest producer of steel plates in Scandinavia, an important central city of industry, economy, science and technology in Sweden, and the birthplace of the Peace and Love Music Festival. In 2007, it became a sister city with Wuhan City. In 2008, Jianghan University established cooperative relationship with the municipal government of Borl?nge, and the two sides have conducted fruitful cooperation in many fields including education, scientific research and social welfare. Jianghan University has sent a number of teachers to Sweden to conduct Chinese language teaching and provide experience activities of Chinese culture such as traditional Chinese medicine, which are warmly welcomed by local teachers, students and people.

The Confucius Institute, upon its establishment, will be led by the municipal governments of Wuhan and Borl?nge, with International Department and Childcare and Education Department of Borl?nge and the Jianghan University as implementation institutions. It will not only teach Chinese to local teachers, students and citizens, but also promote the Chinese culture to the Swedish public with an emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine for health care as well as Chinese calligraphy and painting. At the same time, it will actively promote the construction of the sister cities between Wuhan and Borl?nge, and promote exchanges and cooperation between China and Sweden in economy, trade, environmental protection, public health, youth and other fields.