Teacher Dong Qi of the Asian-African Language Institute attended the World Arabic Day Academic Exchange Conference

On December 18th, in order to celebrate the 10th World Arabic Day, the Cultural Affairs Department of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in China held a World Arabic Day Academic Exchange Chinese Meeting in Beijing with the theme of "Bridges of Arabic-Civilization Exchange". Professor Luo Lin, Dean of the Institute of National and Regional Studies and Dean of the Middle East Institute of Beijing Language and Culture University, and Arabic education experts from many universities and research institutes in China attended the meeting. Teacher Dong Qi, majoring in Arabic at the School of Asian and African Languages of our university, delivered a speech entitled "The Role of Arabic in Civilization Alignment and Some Thoughts on Promoting Sino-Arab Exchanges" at the meeting.

In his speech, Professor Dong Qi reviewed the role and contribution of Arabic in the integration of ancient and modern civilizations, and talked about his thoughts on how Arabic can better help the people of China and Arab to connect with each other. At the same time, on how to promote the development of Arabic majors in Chinese universities, he believes that the ties between Arabic majors in various universities should be strengthened, and professional competitions, academic lectures and seminars should be jointly held to share high-quality teaching resources. At the same time, it establishes friendly relations between arabic majors in colleges and universities and Arab embassies in China, and participates in various cultural and academic exchange activities held by embassies to broaden students' horizons and increase their interest in learning languages and cultures.

Arabic Language Day is celebrated annually on 18th December, established by UNESCO in 2012 to commemorate the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly on 18th December 1973 that listed Arabic as one of the six official working languages of the United Nations, affirming the important role played by Arabic in the inheritance and exchange of human civilizations. This initiative has helped the people of the world to appreciate the charm of the Arabic language, literature and art, and to broaden their understanding of Arab culture and society. (Chen Rupei)