On September 7th local time, the 2018 Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Latin America, sponsored by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) and organized by the Confucius Institute at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, was held in Santiago, the capital of Chile. The Conference was attended by nearly 120 people including representatives of 40 Confucius Institutes from 13 Latin American countries, Chinese and foreign universities, Chinese Embassy in Chile, and the Confucius Institute Headquarters. Ignacio Sánchez, President of Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Zhu Qingbao, Deputy Head of the Faculty Committee in Nanking University, He Yong, Cultural Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Chile, and Arnold, a local teacher of Confucius Institute at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, were present at the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Jingwei, Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Deputy Director-General of Hanban, and Phoenix Publishing & Media Group sent congratulation letters to the event respectively.
Sánchez said that the 2018 Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Latin America coincides with the 130th anniversary of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, which is a great honor for the university. For 9 years, the Confucius Institute at the university has yielded fruitful results, strongly promoted the academic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with Chinese universities, and offered strong support for international strategic development. He stressed that he would continue to support the development of the Confucius Institute and build a platform to facilitate Chinese language and culture communication with other Confucius Institutes in Latin America and make greater contributions to promoting the friendship between Chile and China.
Zhu Qingbao pointed out in his speech that Nanking University, one of the most active universities in international cooperation with Chile and other Latin American countries, established the Center for Latin America Studies. Nanking University will continue to consolidate and deepen the communication and cooperation with Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and all the universities in Latin America to provide strong support for the educational cooperation, cultural communication, and strategic cooperation between China and Chile as well as between China and Latin American countries. He Yong mentioned that the Confucius Institute, as the symbol of the friendship between China and Chile, played an important role in promoting the cultural communication and cooperation between the two countries.
Arnold recalled his Chinese studying experience at the Confucius Institute and Shandong University, where he approached Chinese language and culture through Chinese kungfu and Taichi. As a local teacher in Chile who taught Chinese language and culture in Chile, he hopes more friends sharing the same goal from Chile and other Latin American countries can join Confucius Institutes to contribute to the friendship and communication between China and Latin America.
The Conference read out the congratulation letter from Jing Wei, Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Deputy Director-General of Hanban. In the letter, she stated that the Confucius Institutes in Latin America have been expanding and becoming more influential in recent years, and they have become a bridge for the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Latin American civilizations and an important window for local people to know and understand Chinese culture. She believed that the Conference will provide a new idea for the development of Latin American Confucius Institutes, strengthen the regional cooperation and resources sharing among Confucius Institutes, and make positive contributions to advancing educational and cultural cooperation between China and Latin America as well as enhancing friendship between the two peoples.
The representatives of the Conference
The representatives shared their experience and had in-depth discussion on the following three issues: “how does the Confucius Institutes meet the needs of the local universities and local social development”, “creating a brand culture of the Confucius Institute” and “local teacher training”. They all agreed that the Conference, which is practical and efficient one, has offered a platform for exchanging experiences and pooling consensus and achieved fruitful outcomes. The Conference is conducive to further improving the quality and level of the Confucius Institutes in Latin America and promote the influence of Confucius Institutes. (cited and source from Hanban)
