Honolulu City declares June 21 Confucius Institute Day

As some 280 heads of Confucius Institutes in North American and Oceanian countries gathered here Sunday to discuss the sustainable development of the institutes, Honolulu city declared that June 21 will be its " Confucius Institute Day".

In a proclamation letter, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the move is "in recognition of its commitment to education and friendship between the people of Hawaii and China."

Xu Lin, chief executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters and director-general of China's Hanban, said the designation of the Day demonstrated the strong support of the governments of Hawaii state and Honolulu city to the institute.

According to Xu, since the first Confucius Institute in the North American and Oceanian regions opened in the University of Maryland in 2004, 138 institutes has been established in the regions in the past decade, in addition to 552 Confucius Classrooms in primary and secondary schools.

In the United States only, there are 108 Confucius Institutes and 451 Confucius Classrooms in operation now, the largest number in all the countries in the world.

Some 380,000 people have been learning the Chinese language and Chinese culture in the institutes in the North American and Oceanian regions. In some institutes in the U.S., student numbers exceed 10,000.

"Confucius Institute is a bridge for connection, a platform for dialogue and communication," said Xu. "It promotes mutual respect and understanding among difference cultures and promotes world peace through mutual exchanges."

Former Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie told the 300 strong participants including local officials, faculty of the University of Hawaii which hosts the conference, heads and local representatives of Confucius Institutes, that the Confucius Institutes help people in terms of cooperation, understanding, coordination and communication.

"In this context, in the 21st century which is the century of Asia Pacific Rim, nothing could be more important than the mission of the Confucius Institutes, as China is in the center of that proposition," said Abercrombie.

"To promote the Chinese language and culture, to support teaching Chinese internationally, and to facilitate exchanges on all levels, a simple, straight-forward, understandable set of principles is involved," he said.

Jointly funded by the Chinese government and host universities and with cooperation between Chinese universities and the host universities, the over 1,200 Confucius Institutes in more than 120 countries facilitate the teaching of the Chinese language overseas and promote educational and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and other international communities through a variety of classes and activities.

The presidents of both the host and partner universities of over 130 Confucius Institutes in the North American and Oceanian region attended Sunday's conference. In the coming two days, they will discuss the current situation, sustainable development and many specific issues regarding Confucius Institutes.