Mr Pan Yundong, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Manchester
20 December 2011
Councillor Paul Woodruff , Mayor of Lancaster,
Professor Mckinlay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor(Acting as Vice-Chancellor) of Lancaster University,
Professor Wang Yingjun, President of South China University of Technology,
Mr Tian Xiaogang, Minister Counsellor, Education Section, Embassy of P. R. China in London
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,
As New Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Manchester, I am very delighted to come to the famous Lake District in the U.K., to join you in the Opening Ceremony of the Confucius Institute of Lancaster University. At this joyous occasionmoment, on behalf of the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, I would like to convey my warmest congratulations to South China University of Technology (SCUT) and Lancaster University (LU) toon establishing friendly links with each other, and my best wishes to the better, broader cooperation between the two universities through the Confucius Institute in the future. In addition, I would like to thank SCUT, LULancaster University, and the Headquarter of Confucius Institute in China for your joint efforts and great support, which make the Confucius Institute come into being.
As we all know, Confucius was a great philosopher, educator and politicianstatesmen during the Spring and Autumn Period( 770 BC-476 BC) of China. Confucius thoughts very positively influences various aspects in China and the world as well, which becamebecomes more and more vivid and profound be in greater depth with the increasing number of Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in many countries in the past several years. Today, there are 358 Confucius Institutes and more than 500 Confucius Classrooms in 105 countries and regions, which are acting as bridges between China and all othertheir hosting countries, havingplaying very important roles in teaching Chinese language, promoting cultural and educational exchanges, and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship, etc. Just like China's State Councillor and Chairperson of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters Mrs Liu Yandong said at the recent Sixth Meeting of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing that, since its launching 8 year ago, the Confucius Institute has brought Chinese language to all corners of the globe, whilst languages and cultures of foreign countries were brought into China. The seed of communicating, understanding, harmony, and friendship it disseminated is blossoming among the young people.
I believe, with all the help and collaborations from different sectors, the Confucius Institute will be a very successful one ofwith high standard, distinguishing features, and work as a golden bridge of exchanges and cooperation in humanities between China and the UK. I also hope that, in the future the Lancaster University Confucius Institute will grasp this opportunity to explore a suitable teaching and operation system to meet the needs of the local community, to train more and more British youths who love Chinese language and culture, understand China, and wish to work for the friendly and mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. The Consulate General of China will definitely offer full support to the development of the Confucius Institute as we always did.
To conclude my speech, please allow me to quote a famous phrase of Confucius to all the students and staff of the Confucius Institute of Lancaster University, thatwhich is “Broader Learning, Cautious Question, Doubtful Thinking, Lively Debating, and Constant Practice”.
Once again, congratulations to the Opening of the Confucius Institute of Lancaster University. Thank you very much!
