Confucius Institute: Name Card of 'Experience China'

This is an era when "all nations are trying to learn from each other and spread the good of one's own." Every country and every nation is trying to showcase their cultural fashions in various ways. Meanwhile, they are also harvesting from cultural communication. China has presented its own name brand: Confucius Institute. The Chinese language is crossing oceans to the rest of the world and Chinese culture is glimmering in the process of international communication.

Media like Financial Times and BBC of the UK as well as CNN of the United States have often praised the Confucius Institute as the best and most fantastic cultural institution that China has exported so far.

Since the founding of the first Confucius Institute in South Korea in November 2004, the institute is committed to spreading its influence from education agencies to the mainstream society and local civilians in other countries, furthering the prevalence of the Mandarin language. By 2012, more than 390 Confucius Institutes have been set up and more than 500 middle and primary schools offer Confucius classes in 108 countries and regions. Moreover, more than 160 universities in 62 countries are applying to open Confucius Institutes. So far, 40 countries and regions have issued administrative orders to internalize the teaching of Chinese into their national education system.

"'The Confucius Institute Model' has finished the job of pushing Chinese to the world within several years, a job on which language communication agencies in countries like Britain, France, Germany and Spain used to spend years and years to accomplish. "Like China's economic development, this is also a world miracle," said Martin Davidson, CEO of British Council, and Klaus-Dieter-Lehman, President of Goethe Institute. Chiefs of UK's 48 group clubs say that speaking Chinese has become their cultural fashion and also kind of symbol of one's social status.

Confucius Institute has offered different perspectives to probe into the Chinese culture. Professors of the institute are not only imparting the Chinese language, but also the Chinese idea of "harmony is precious" and "harmony despite differences." It helps promote the communication and integration between Chinese culture and cultures of other countries.

Professor Johan De Graeve, President of Group T-International University College Leuven, said the Confucius Institute is like a big round table, around which people sit down to have dialogues. There, you can listen to each other and influence each other. People do not demand total agreement with each other, but they'll get to share more and more in common.

The concept of Confucius Institute reflects diversity and the demand of the era and thus it has attracted a number of loyal fans. The first sentence on Stanford University's application materials for the opening of Confucius Institute reads, "In order to foster future American leaders that know China."

Xu Lin, Director-General of Hanban and Confucius Institute, said, "Today's world is undergoing big changes and rapid development. Developing Confucius Institute on the world stage is driven by our cultural sense and cultural confidence. More importantly, it is our duty-bound responsibility and mission."


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