Confucius Institute Conference attracts 2,400 Chinese teaching professionals
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The opening ceremony of the 11th Confucius Institute Conference is held in Kunming of southwest China's Yunnan province, on Saturday, December 10, 2016. About 2,400 delegates from 140 countries worldwide attend the two-day conference. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

The 11th Confucius Institute Conference has opened in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The gathering has attracted some 2,400 education professionals from around the world, with the theme of promoting Chinese-language learning and the Chinese culture. CRI's Min Rui has more.

The annual gathering, also called the "Davos of the education sector," has attracted some 2,400 representatives of universities and diplomats from 140 countries. The two-day conference also includes 14 forums for university presidents and Confucius Institute heads to exchange views, with other cultural events, and exhibitions displaying teaching materials for overseas Chinese learners, as well as creative works from Confucius Institutes worldwide.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, during her speech at the Conference on Saturday, highlighted the themes of this year's conference, which are "innovation, cooperation, inclusion and sharing" to promote culture diversity.

"We will let Confucius institutes to integrate with the 'One Belt and One Road' initiative, to promote cooperative mechanisms in different regions and countries, so as to exchange experiences and share resources."

The Confucius Institute is a non-profit public educational organization under China's Ministry of Education, which provides funding, teachers and teaching materials for overseas Chinese language and cultural courses.

Ru Yi, a Hungarian teacher of the Chinese language, says Chinese is becoming more and more important to her country.

"Though studying Chinese is not an easy task, I see Chinese getting more important in the Hungarian foreign language system. And I am right as a matter of fact; Hungary is the first country to sign a cooperation agreement with China in Europe, after China proposed the One Belt One Road initiative. Sentiment for learning Chinese is getting hotter."

Initiated in 2004, the Confucius Institute program has satisfied the surging overseas demand for Chinese-language learning.

Up to now, 511 Confucius Institutes and 1,073 Confucius Classrooms have been set up in 140 countries and regions, with a total recruitment of more than 5 million Chinese learners.

Li Yuanyuan, President of Jilin University in northeast China, says apart from being hubs for teaching and learning, the institutes also serve as a bridge for understanding and cooperation.

"My university and Rutgers University in the United States, jointly built a Confucius Institute in the US. Since then, the collaboration has expanded to other areas as well. We helped Rutgers build a Chinese study center, and the Rutgers has set up a curriculum for our Chinese students to spend time in the US. We hold theme weeks in both our universities to celebrate our collaboration, and the Confucius Institutes has helped the two universities become true partners in educational exchanges."

Working closely with overseas universities is part of the Confucius Institute's plan to intermix with local cultures. For CRI, I'm Min Rui.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan