At the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China paid a State Visit to the UK from 19 to 23 October 2015. On October 22 local time, President Xi and his party attended the opening ceremony of the annual conference of UK Confucius Institutes (CIs) and ConfuciusClassrooms (CCs) hosted by Institute of Education (IOE) at University College London (UCL), and graciously received attendees of that event. CUPL President Huang Jin was also present at the meeting on invitation.
In his speech, President Xi pointed out that, with the use of rich education resources in the local society, CIs in the UK have developed rapidly in recent years. Up to now, 29 CIs and 126 CCs have been established in the UK, the number of which ranks first in Europe. The great successes scored by CIs in the UK are also the embodiments of the prosperous and healthy development in the field of bilateral cultural exchanges. The way of thinking and living in both countries are currently experiencing a wonderful “chemical reaction” triggered by the interaction between the essences of the two cultures. President Xi encouraged teachers and students at the meeting to make further contributions to the cause of Sino-British friendship. “I have high hopes that Confucius Institutes will adhere to their school motto of ‘mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality and mutual benefits’, to make greater contributions in the dissemination of cultures, soul communications among the citizens of different countries and the promotion of diversified civilizations in this world.”
In September 2012, the CI at Bangor University (BU) was jointly set up by CUPL and BU. The CI, as the first one founded by CUPL with the support of the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban),as well as the first of its kind highlighting features of legal culture, aims at popularizing the usage of Chinese language in the international community and promoting related cultural exchanges.
