On a sunny weekend in the autumn of 2012, the large open-air event – the biennial cultural open day was held at the largest central park in Poitiers, France. It is the twentieth cultural open day held in Poitiers. On that day, thousands of citizens come to the venue to experience the different cultural activities. Since 2010, the Confucius Institute at the University of Poitiers has been invited to attend the event by the municipal government. This year, the Confucius Institute once again organized an exhibition stand to promote Chinese language teaching and Chinese cultural activities.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Poitiers actively organized and prepared for this event. In addition to the introduction of Chinese culture and Chinese language teaching, etc., the Confucius Institute also gave an introduction to the French version of the Confucius Institute’s journal as well as the learning software “Cool Chinese” which had just been launched in June 2012. The rich course contents and a variety of teaching methods of Confucius Institute attracted many people to ask for advice. On that day, the students of martial arts class at the Confucius Institute at the University of Poitiers became a part of the Chinese culture presentation and they presented several exciting martial arts performances for the public. On that day, more than three hundred people visited the Confucius Institute at its booth for consulting Chinese language courses and Chinese cultural customs, and more than a thousand people watched the martial arts performances given by the Confucius Institute students.