The opening ceremony of the 2024 Chinese Language Day and the "Chinese Bridge" Spring Camp for students from Gulf Cooperation Council countries was held in Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) on Friday to promote Chinese language and culture.
Language Days at the United Nations seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the organization.
The date for the Chinese Day was selected from Guyu ("Rain of Millet"), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters.
Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie.
The "Chinese Bridge" Spring Camp, under the theme of "Chinese language: connecting cultures through the bridge of mutual learning", is organized by the Ministry of Education's Center for Language Education and Cooperation.
Teachers and students from Gulf Cooperation Council countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain will be given the opportunities to visit cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Shenyang to experience the colorful Chinese civilization by communicating with university students and visiting historical and cultural tourist attractions.
It also serves as a good chance to showcase and enhance the achievements of international Chinese education.
"My name is Li Yuanai and I am from the UAE. I have been studying Chinese for over a year. I love learning Chinese language and culture. We are able to gain a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of China by studying Chinese," said a student participating in the Spring Camp.
A multitude of cultural exchange activities have been held by Ministry of Education's Center for Language Education and Cooperation to celebrate the UN Chinese Language day since 2020. Over the past four years, over 3,000 cultural events have been held in more than 160 countries and regions across the world with more than 860,000,000 people participating.
"Chinese Bridge" Spring Camp held in Beijing for Gulf students
Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to France marks a pivotal moment for strengthening Sino-French strategic cooperation amid global tensions, according to Pascal Boniface, founder of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.
From May 5 to 10, Xi will tour Europe, including stops in France, Serbia, and Hungary -- his first European visit in five years.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Paris, Boniface shared his perspectives on the importance of this visit.
"It's a very important visit, because, as you have mentioned, President Xi has not visited Europe for the last five years due to COVID-19. And it's a very important period of time due to many wars: the wars between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Gaza between Palestinians and Israelis. I think it's a very important time to enhance the cooperation, strategic cooperation between France and China, and to think about the way we could together try to ease the tension and to make progress towards peace," Boniface explained.
Boniface also discussed the potential impact of Xi's visit on Sino-French relations, emphasizing that it provides a platform for Xi to articulate Chinese policies to the French people.
"Because President Xi will be seen by most of the French people and will read important speeches, so he could elaborate Chinese policy and present its policy to the French people. It is good to have a visit, because it will be in the spotlight for two days, or even before by the fact, because we have begun to speak about the Chinese president's visit since now. So it's a very good way. And I think we need to have regular visits, regular meetings between our two leaders," Boniface noted.
Regarding Europe's strategic autonomy -- a policy endorsed by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to China last year -- Boniface stressed the significant work still required for France to achieve this goal without compromising its commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
"To be frank, many of French people share this view, but not too many people inside Europe. So it's really a work in progress, because most European countries are dedicated to American umbrella, strategic umbrella. And so, for some of them, most of them, to be frank, the strategic autonomy of Europe could be a way to be separated from the USA. It's not the case, so we have to work a little bit more to convince our partners. But we could have strategic autonomy without leaving NATO," Boniface said.
Expert highlights significance of President Xi's upcoming visit to France
Expert highlights significance of President Xi's upcoming visit to France
