TAG-Confucius Institute Attends “Confucius Institute Day” Celebration

On September 27, Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF) held the “Confucius Institute Day” celebration in Beijing with the theme of “Honoring the Past, Heralding the Future”. Dr. Yang Songfang, Chinese Director of TAG-Confucius Institute (TAG-CI), and the teachers attended the event online. The CIs around the world jointly celebrated this festival of their own.

Yang Wei, President of CIEF, said in his keynote speech: with the theme of “Honoring the Past, Heralding the Future”, we would like to pay tribute to the development history and achievements of the CI over the past 17 years, and to the CI people represented by the directors who have worked hard and made important contributions to the CI for a long time.

The dedicated and enthusiastic CI directors are not only the makers and executors of the development policies and plans of the CI, but also educators and friendly ambassadors.

It is hoped that the directors will continue to work hard for the higher quality and sustainable development of the CI, and continue to contribute to the promotion of educational exchanges and cooperation between the two partners, two regions and two countries, and the integrated development of CI family and the construction of a community for a shared future. While teaching Chinese well, CI has also devoted a lot of enthusiasm and painstaking efforts to promoting cultures and people-to-people bond.

The CI belongs to both China and the world. In order to achieve better development in the new era, the CI must adhere to opening up, strengthen coordination and innovation to jointly build a win-win symbiotic CI ecosystem. CIEF will adhere to the concept of mutual consultation, joint construction and sharing, work hard in hand with all partners to jointly build a healthy development ecosystem for the CI and create a new chapter in the cause of international Chinese education.

75 Chinese and foreign directors who have served at the CIs for more than ten years were awarded the “Medal for Long Service as a Confucius Institute Director”.

The representatives of them delivered speeches offline and online, sharing their stories with the CI and expressing their good wishes for the development of the CI and their firm confidence in international Chinese education. The award of the “Medal for Long Service as a Confucius Institute Director” will be a permanent project and be held around “Confucius Institute Day” every year.

At the event site, Top 100 short videos of “ZUI · Confucius Institute” Short Video Collection Activity were announced. Four videos of TAG-CI were selected in Top 100 after experts’ evaluation, that is, “We All Love Learning Chinese” “My Story with Chinese” “Fun Chat about Chinese and Arab Culture” and “The Story of the Old Town”. Top 100 videos will continue to compete for the final award through public voting.

In addition, the global portal website of Confucius Institute www.ci.cn which was established by CIEF was launched. The website will be dedicated to strengthening the collaboration among the CIs around the world, providing more open, convenient and efficient services, assisting Chinese and foreign cooperative institutions to better play their main roles and promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of CIs.

The “Confucius Institute Day” event started in 2014 and is generally held in late September every year. The CIs around the world annually hold a variety of activities to celebrate this festival.