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The opening ceremony of the 5th Confucius Institute Conference was held on December 10 at the National Convention Center in Beijing. Li Changchun, Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended the opening ceremony and awarded certificates to outstanding groups and individuals, and excellent international Chinese teaching-materials compilers. He also watched the performance by Confucius Institute students. He extended congratulations to the awarded individuals and groups, encouraging them to learn from experience and from each other to promote cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the rest of the world, deepen understanding and friendship between Chinese people and the peoples of other countries, and contribute to building a harmonious world.

Liu Yandong, Chinese State Councilor and chair of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, also attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

When addressing the opening ceremony, Madam Liu said Confucius Institute has gone through an extraordinary journey in the past five years, attained remarkable achievements and now is at a new starting point. She said the Institute is being offered a new opportunity and also a new task given the increasing exchanges in the diverse cultures in the world, the shared ideal of harmonious human society, the trend of international educational cooperation and China's wider opening-up. The Confucius Institute adheres to the principle of co-construction by both the Chinese and host institutions, and the principle of mutually-owned, mutually-governed, mutually-shared, she said, adding that support and cohesion should be enhanced to promote the sustainable development of the Confucius Institute. She also stressed the efforts toward innovation, blending into the local communities and meeting the Chinese-learning demand of other peoples so that the Confucius Institute can serve as a bridge to promote exchanges and cooperation between China and the rest of the world. While putting the priority on teachers, teaching materials and teaching methods, the Confucius Institute should enhance fundamental construction, teaching quality and management levels, she said. The Institute is expected to expand its service capability and keep on its intensive development to play an active role in language education, people-to-people communication and cooperation.

After the opening ceremony, the students from 33 Confucius Institutes in 28 countries put on a lively performance. Students from Britain, Germany, Zimbabwe and other countries performed a Chinese song medley; students from Australia, Russia and the United States performed a skit “I learn Chinese at the Confucius Institute;” the students from Hungary, Chile and Norway put on a Chinese Kungfu performance. The students from France, Italy, Egypt, Brazil and Latvia sang classic love songs of different countries in Chinese; their performance represented the traditional Chinese love legend “Butterfly Lovers.”

Foreign envoys who participated in Hanban's Chinese training programs sang a popular Chinese song “1234567.” The performance ended with the chorus of “Young Friends Meet Together” and “Auld Lang Syne”. The whole performance, which was joyous, humorous and witty, showed the foreign students’ enthusiasm for Chinese language and culture, demonstrated the achievements of Confucius Institutes and the brilliant integration of Chinese and other cultures. When the performance ended, Mr. Li Changchun walked onto the stage to congratulate and shake hands with the performers.

The annual conference of Confucius Institute is aimed at helping the Confucius Institutes in the world to share experience, and strengthen communication and cooperation. There have been five sessions since 2006. This two-day conference this year, themed “sustainable development of Confucius Institute”, drew 1,400 university presidents and Confucius Institute representatives from 96 countries and regions. During the conference, other activities were also held, including the Presidents’ Forum, Confucius Institute Directors’ Forum and an exhibition on international Chinese teaching materials.