Peking University, Beijing, May 4, 2009:  The leading group meeting for international promotion of the Chinese language was held at Peking University (PKU) on April 23, hosted by Prof. Yang He, Vice-Secretary of CPC PKU Committee.  Prof. Zhang Guoyou, Vice-President of PKU, together with other fourteen group members, attended the meeting.  Prof. Zhou Qifeng, President of PKU, delivered a speech at the meeting.

Prof. Zhang Guoyou made a report on the development of PKU Confucius Institutes.  He pointed out that PKU has already set up 8 Confucius Institutes under the guidance of the Ministry of Education by the end of 2008.  Headmasters from China of these eight institutes have all taken office.  Through efforts from both the Chinese side and foreign side, they have been active in organizing multi-level Chinese language teaching and various activities to introduce Chinese culture to the world.  They have also been engaged in editing the Chinese language textbooks and training Chinese language teachers to enhance the institutes’ influence in local areas.  In the third Confucius Institute Conference, there were 4 institutes of PKU winning the title of “Outstanding Confucius Institute”, and two of the Chinese presidents awarded as excellent individuals.  Prof. Zhang Guoyou exhibited these institutes’ work of promoting Chinese to the world vividly by a large number of pictures.

The Chinese presidents have played important roles in the construction of Confucius Institutes.  They have discussed the related policies with colleagues from cooperating units patiently, and dealt with problems and contradictions in the work cautiously.  All of these have shown their professional dedication to their work and patriotism to our country, which have won respect from cooperating partners as well.  In recent years, PKU has totally dispatched 18 Chinese presidents and language teachers as well as 18 volunteers to work in these institutes, who have made outstanding contributions to the international promotion of Chinese language.

Another special feature of PKU Confucius Institutes is lectures and reports delivered by experts and scholars from PKU in various fields, such as biology, education, economy, environment, philosophy, and linguistics.  PKU has also provided enormous support and help on teacher training and textbook editing to these institutes.

National leaders have paid great attention and support to PKU Confucius Institutes.  Many  important leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao, have been to these institutes.  Their visits have shown the importance of setting up Confucius Institutes, which also enhanced the staffs’ confidence to do a good job on international promotion of Chinese.

The attendees put forward the basic plan for the promoting work of Chinese in 2009 in this meeting.  PKU will enhance the construction of Confucius Institutes, continue the work of teacher training, textbook editing, and research on teaching methods, and supervise the administration in every institute.  Timely, PKU will arrange some scholars to give speeches on Chinese traditional culture or the development of contemporary China. 

Then, they had warm discussions on the topics of the selection of Chinese president, the training of teachers in the departments related to the international promotion of Chinese, and the expansion of PKU’ s international influence through the Confucius Institute.  They also brought forward many useful suggestions on how to attract more foreign students to study in China, and how to strengthen the discipline construction in PKU.

Finally, Prof. Zhou Qifeng gave his speech.  At first, he approved PKU’s success in the work of international promotion of Chinese.  He pointed out that it is a national strategy that PKU should pay more attention to because it relates to the international reputation of PKU.  He also affirmed the construction principle of Confucius Institute.  Then, he stressed that they should be cautious and think thoroughly when choosing cooperating partners.  In the end, he said that it is necessary for these institutes to connect tightly with discipline construction and talents’ training of PKU to make them more characteristic.

Edited by: Cai Ying

Translated by: Su Juan

Source: Beida News (Chinese)