The 13th Global Confucius Institute Conference was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. More than 1,500 delegates from 154 countries and regions attended the conference. Vice Premier of the State Council and President of Confucius Institute Headquarters Sun Chunlan delivered a speech. President Liu Hong of Dalian University of Foreign Languages (DUFL) was invited to speak at the opening ceremony.

In her speech, Liu introduced the measures taken by DUFL to support the work of Confucius Institutes and shared some touching stories of teachers and students of the Confucius Institutes managed by DUFL. She believed that Confucius Institutes have become a broad platform to promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries through language education and cultural promotion. During the conference, President Liu was invited to preside over the President forum and made a keynote speech on “Establishing an Exchange Platform for Confucius Institutes”.

At the conference, DUFL was once again awarded the “Outstanding Chinese Partners of Confucius Institute”

So far, DUFL has established 10 Confucius Institutes (CI) across the globe and not long ago, DUFL, together with these 10 CIs, reached a resolution to establish a Cooperative University Alliance. This establishment will open a new chapter in the development of the Confucius Institutes.

Background information: China has established 548 Confucius Institutes and 1,193 Confucius Classrooms in 154 countries, with 1.87 million registered students. It has become a bridge linking China and other civilizations and an important media for the rest of the world to learn about China.