Registered Students of Confucius Institute at University of Rwanda Exceeds 4900
“Learning Chinese Makes Us Love China”
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When the morning arrives in Kimironko market in the east of Kigali, capital of Rwanda, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and customers soon pack the place.
A Rwandan young man walking towards the journalist greeted him in Chinese. “Are you looking for the school that teaches Chinese? Go straight ahead and then turn right.” Soon after, the journalist found the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda. It was in the holiday, but there were still over 300 students participating in the summer camp held by the Confucius Institute.
In the classroom, Rwandan students sang Chinese songs passionately to the accompaniment. The focused students could recite Tang poems while clapping hands to make beats, giving African musical rhythms to ancient Chinese poems. Outside the classroom, hundreds of students did morning exercise in ranks. Accompanied by Chinese pop music, Rwandan students keen on singing and dancing had performed a unique “square dance”.
Quite a few of these students in the holiday training would set off to study in China soon. Niyomukiza Jurdas, a slim Rwandan young man, has a Chinese name called Zhang Jie. He told the journalist, “I will go to Liaoning University and study there. Learning Chinese makes us love China.”
Zhang Xian, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda, is from Chong Qing Normal University. He said, “2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda. Now we have 15 teachers and over 4900 registered students, ranking high among African countries.” Apart from the headquarters of the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda, 13 teaching sites were set up in the campuses of the university, local middle schools, Chinese-funded enterprises and institutions and other places all over Rwanda. Many Rwandan people are doing well in Chinese-funded enterprises through smooth communication after learning Chinese.
Zhang Xingyan, a volunteer teacher working in Rwanda for two years, found it hard to leave, “I gave lessons at a teaching site of a middle school soon after I arrived in Rwanda. The sincerity and kindness of local students often touched me.” When teaching Chinese, Zhang Xingyan also learned local language and culture. She said, “Probably I’m the Chinese teacher who knows Rwanda most in the Confucius Institute. Now I can use local language to communicate with students.”
Yanzigiye Beatrice, Foreign Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda, said that awarded in 2016, the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda has made great achievements over the past 10 years since its establishment. The Confucius Institute has helped more Rwandan people to know about and love Chinese culture.
(Story by Wan Yu, People’s Daily, Page 21, July 17th, 2018)
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