Consul General Zheng Xiyuan Attends Welcome Reception Hosted by the University of Manchester President

2019-04-24 19:04

On April 4^th 2019, Consul General Zheng Xiyuan attended the welcome reception hosted by Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester. Over 60 guests including faculty deans, professors and student representatives attended the reception. Counsellor Zhao Jiang, Consul Lyu Xiaomei and Consul Chen Xuefeng accompanied him at the event.

Consul General Zheng thanked Dame Nancy in his speech for her warm reception and the University of Manchester for its careful cultivation of Chinese students and scholars over the years. Consul General Zheng mentioned that in 2016 Liu Daming, the first Chinese undergraduate to study abroad in a wheelchair, came to the University of Manchester, and in the past three years he received comprehensive care and attention from the University; the University set up scholarships specifically for female students from Gansu and Guizhou provinces reducing financial burdens for families in poor areas; it actively coordinated with the City Council to prolong the operating hours of evening buses on campus to reduce safety risks for Chinese students; it established a well-functioning communication mechanism with the police and the Consulate General to ensure overseas Chinese students 'study abroad safely'. Consul General Zheng expressed that the University of Manchester had cooperated closely with China in recent years and through strengthening construction of its Confucius Institute and China Institute, it had continuously promoted exchanges between the two sides in culture, science and technology, and achieved tremendous accomplishments. The Consulate General is willing to further strengthen ties with the University of Manchester to jointly promote better development of people-to-people exchanges between China and the UK and make positive contributions to the development of Sino-British relations.  

 On behalf of the University of Manchester, Dame Nancy warmly welcomed Consul General Zheng to his new post in Manchester and briefed him on the development of the University.  She mentioned that currently there are 6,000 Chinese overseas students in the University of Manchester and over 20,000 alumni in China and they are valuable resources. In recent years, the University of Manchester has been continuously deepening exchange and cooperation with Chinese colleges and universities as well as scientific research institutions. It actively worked with China Scholarship Council to set up cooperation scholarships and jointly carried out a campus football coach training programme with Manchester City FC. In this regard, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Consulate General in Manchester for its strong support.

At the reception, Dame Nancy introduced individual guests to Consul General Zheng and they spoke cordially with each other. During this period, students from Chinese Students and Scholars Association- Manchester chorus sang My Motherland and I.