Chinese language education goes beyond the Greater Bay Area

On November 5, the International Chinese Education High-end Forum of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). At the forum, an alliance dedicated to teaching Chinese and spreading Chinese culture around the world— The Confucius Institute Hosting Universities Alliance in the Greater Bay Area—was formally established.

The alliance members include nine universities—GDUFS, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Macao, Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, Jinan University, South China Normal University, Guangzhou University, and Lingnan Normal University. The alliance was initiated by the GDUFS and aims to help member universities build Confucius Institutes or Confucius Classrooms all over the world. Meanwhile, all members will cooperate to launch a Chinese education database to share resources in terms of Chinese teachers and online Chinese courses.

Qiu Kenan, an inspector at level 2 of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province, delivered a speech at the forum. He introduced that up to now, 7 universities in Guangdong have built 21 Confucius Institutes and 1 Confucius Classroom in Japan, Russia, Mexico and other major countries. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Guangdong has actively innovated teaching forms and a rich content of remote teaching activities to minimize the adverse impact of the pandemic. "In the future, Guangdong will provide more talent support and institutional guarantees for international Chinese education." he said.

Zhao Lingshan, vice chairman of the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF), sent congratulations to alliance members via video link. He emphasized that the overseas partners of Confucius Institutes are not limited to single academic institutions. "Whether the foreign co-operating partner is a school, a club, or other Sino-foreign friendship associations, they can all cooperate with member schools to carry out Chinese language teaching activities beyond the Greater Bay Area," Zhao said.

The CIEF was established in June 2020. It is the overall management of Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classroom brands. It is responsible for raising funds to provide support and services for the development of Confucius Institutes worldwide.

On September 27, the official website of the Confucius Institute (ci.cn) was officially launched.