On June 23, 2022, Professor Xu Jie, Director of the Confucius Institute of the University of Macau (CIUM), and Professor Chen Zhong, Deputy Director of the CIUM, participated in the “Themed Salon on the Construction and Development of the Alliance of Confucius Institutes in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”. Leaders of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and members of the Confucius Institute (Chinese International Education) Alliance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area discussed issues related to the construction and development of Confucius Institutes.
Professor Jiao Fangtai, Vice President of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, delivered a welcome speech, and Mr. Li Jinjun, Director of the Exchange and Cooperation Division of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province, commenced the meeting accordingly.
At the meeting, leaders and scholars from various units delivered a presentation and shared valuable experience from their perspective on 10 different topics including teacher’s training, textbook development, international communication, practical cases and theoretical research, and proposed creative ideas for the construction of Confucius Institutes in the Greater Bay Area. Professor Chen Zhong made a presentation on the topic of “Annual High-end Forum and High-end Think Tank Construction”, and introduced the path of developing the distinguished feature of CIUM, and comprehensively demonstrated the teaching achievements and creative ideas of Chinese language and culture teaching at the CIUM from five aspects. Together with the constructive achievements of the brothers Confucius Institutes in the Greater Bay Area, he put forward his ideas and thoughts on the construction of high-end forums and high-end think tanks, and advocated that high-end forums should promote the creation of innovative results with regional characteristics of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Since its establishment, the CIUM has been committed to deliver Chinese language teaching, teacher’s training, teaching research and cultural exchange activities for the Portuguese-speaking countries, exploring regional collaborative development, and promoting exchanges between local and Portuguese-speaking countries. On November 5, 2021, the CIUM has officially joined the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Confucius Institute (International Chinese Education) Alliance. With the advantages of resources in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Alliance will work collaboratively to carry out international Chinese education and international cooperation and exchanges in language and culture.