International Chinese Language Education Week 2021 officially launched

The launching ceremony for the International Chinese Language Education Week (CLEC) 2021 was held on Dec. 13, 2021 in Beijing.

The launching ceremony for the International Chinese Language Education Week (CLEC) 2021. (Photo/Center for Language Education and Cooperation)

Tian Xuejun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Chairman of the National Language Commission, attended the launching ceremony and delivered a speech. He pointed out that international Chinese language education is a public good offered by China to the world, as well as an important platform for China to promote China’s integration with the world and the world’s understanding of China.

To engage in international Chinese language education and assist people from various countries in learning Chinese is a duty-bound responsibility of China, Tian said, expressing his hope that the CLEC 2021 can offer an opportunity to build more platforms for cooperation, promoting the diversified and high-quality development of language and cultural communication between China and other countries, and injecting more dynamism into mutual learning between different civilizations of the world as well as people-to-people bonds.

Tian Xuejun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Chairman of the National Language Commission gives a speech at the launching ceremony. (Photo/Center for Language Education and Cooperation)

Simon Biggs, Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Western Australia, said in his speech that in today’s increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, making the effort to learn another language is a sign of respect. Learning a new language can help people establish deep, cross-cultural friendships, and understand a different perspective in addition to communicating on a more profound level.

At the launching ceremony, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation signed cooperation agreements on the establishment of Chinese language education programs with Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sports, the International Cooperation Group of Brazilian Universities, the University of Glasgow, Scotland’s National Center for Languages, the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, and the ASEAN-China Centre.

The Center also signed a cooperation agreement with Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) on supporting the construction of smart classrooms, as well as an agreement with a Chinese choir at Burggymnasium, Germany, on the construction of a Chinese music classroom, providing new approaches and new solutions to strengthen exchanges and cooperation on international Chinese language education.

Officials, representatives of teachers and students send congratulatory messages online. (Photo/Center for Language Education and Cooperation)

In committing to promote the high-quality development of international Chinese language education, better serve learners of the Chinese language from around the world and further facilitate language exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries, the CLEC 2021 will hold nearly 40 activities online and offline, showcasing achievements, sharing good practices, enhancing coordination and discussing plans for future development, as well as promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of international Chinese language education. 

Multiple cooperation agreements are signed online. (Photo/Center for Language Education and Cooperation)