In cultural reversal, European royals turn to Chinese
Updated: 2016-07-26 07:57
By Fu Jing(China Daily)
|
||||||||
For sure, European institutions are increasingly offering Chinese-language classes to young officials. On July 21, while I was walking with participants in the Belgian National Day parade, a retired Belgian stopped me to say that in his youth he studied Chinese in Taiwan for a few years and spent more than 10 years on the Chinese mainland. I was amazed at his fluent Chinese.
All these are proof of the trend of Chinese becoming popular across the world, partly because of the attractions of Chinese civilization and China's growing economic clout.
In recent years, China has initiated several projects to better connect with the rest of the world. One is the Belt and Road Initiative, which is aimed at improving connectivity in Eurasia through infrastructure construction, growing trade flow and increased people-to-people exchanges. The other is the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that offers funds to countries to improve connectivity among Asia, Europe and Africa.
China therefore needs to innovatively respond to this trend to spread its language and culture, in order to meet the rising demands in Europe and other continents.
Although China has already helped set up Confucius Institutes in many universities in countries across the world, and Chinese language and culture classes have become part of primary and secondary schools in many countries, more needs to be done to spread the real values of Chinese culture. It's time China intensified its cooperation with other countries to turn some of the schools into bilingual or trilingual institutions, where Chinese language and culture can be taught at least one day a week. Britain, the US, Canada, Japan, France and other countries have set up many schools in China with their own curriculum.
China can follow their examples to set up similar schools in other countries. And this should also be part of the mission for China's new Minister of Education Chen Baosheng.
The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau
fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
- 4th Confucius Institute established in Portugal
- China opens second Confucius Institute in Ghana
- Graduation ceremony in Confucius Temple
- Chinese university launches new UK Confucius Institute
- Confucius versus modern Chinese thinking
- Chinese university launches new UK Confucius Institute
- Shandong, the birthplace of Confucius and Confucianism
- CCTV to air series on Confucius Institute
- The world in photos: July 18-25
- Cambodia hailed for upholding justice on maritime issue
- ASEAN countries urged to 'dispel disruptions'
- One dead, 12 injured in blast near Nuremberg, Germany
- Fashion of Queen Elizabeth on exhibition in London
- Hollande urges Britain to begin EU exit talks 'as soon as possible'
- Sunny images of 60-year-old go viral in China
- Xi'an battered by summer downpours
- Photographer uses traditional technique to capture images
- Now and then: Rebirth of Tangshan 40 years after quake
- Things you may not know about Major Heat
- Unveiling the secrets of Elizabeth II’s wardrobe
- Go global: Wanda's top 10 foreign acquisitions
- Hot pepper and ice tub challenge held in E China
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Anti-graft campaign targets poverty relief |
Cherry blossom signal arrival of spring |
In pictures: Destroying fake and shoddy products |
China's southernmost city to plant 500,000 trees |
Cavers make rare finds in Guangxi expedition |
Cutting hair for Longtaitou Festival |
Today's Top News
Ministry slams US-Korean THAAD deployment
Two police officers shot at protest in Dallas
Abe's blame game reveals his policies failing to get results
Ending wildlife trafficking must be policy priority in Asia
Effects of supply-side reform take time to be seen
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi to meet Kerry
Chinese stocks surge on back of MSCI rumors
Liang avoids jail in shooting death
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |