Tianjin has built many Confucius Institutes in other countries like US and Japan

As a city with profound historical and cultural deposits, Tianjin plays an important role in China’s building of Confucius Institutes in foreign countries, which helps to advance the economic and cultural cooperation and exchange of Tianjin with other countries.

China began to build overseas Confucius Institutes since 2004, in order to let more people in other countries know more about China. By the beginning of 2016, Tianjin has built many Confucius Institutes and classrooms in countries such as US, Japan, France, Poland and Thailand. Though located in different countries, the overseas Confucius Institutes and classrooms built by Tianjin share the common missions, namely, to be the core base of international Chinese learning network, a platform for Chinese and foreign education cooperation and exchange and to be a bridge for the economic and cultural exchanges between China and the world. Thanks to the cooperation between Tianjin Normal University and the University of Nairobi in Kenya, Africa’s first Confucius Institute, the University of Nairobi’s Confucius Institute, was established, which provided of Chinese teaching to the university’s students and the public.

In 2007, the institute’s curriculum was designed for degree and certificate, and the Chinese teaching was included in the country’s national education system. The establishment of Confucius Institute in the University of Nairobi is a milestone of China-Kenya education cooperation and exchange. The Confucius Institute in the University of Hull in UK was unveiled on Jan 29, 2016. Tianjin Normal University is this institute’s organizer university in China. From 2004, Nankai University has founded 7 overseas Confucius Institutes, including those in American University of Maryland, the Universidade do Minho in Portugal and Japanese Aichi University. Tianjin University set up its first overseas Confucius Institute at the Slovak University of Technology in 2007, which marked the first Confucius Institute in Slovak and also the first in European technology universities was established. The world’s first Confucius Classroom, organized by Tianjin Experimental High School opened in November, 2006 in a middle school in Thailand.

A Confucius Institute jointly built by Tianjin University of Science and Technology and Tailand’s Assumption University was unveiled in 2015. In response to the need of international Chinese teaching and overseas Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, Tianjin has send several groups of international Chinese teachers and volunteers to these institutes and classrooms. These teachers and volunteers are not only responsible for Chinese teaching but also shoulder responsibilities to promote Chinese culture. Tianjin’s overseas Confucius Institutes and Classrooms have set up nearly 100 courses of various levels and types. Meanwhile, colorful activities such as lectures, exhibitions and performance were organized. The overseas Confucius Institutes and Classrooms are important platforms to learn Chinese and Chinese culture and receive wide popularities in local. Confucius was a Chinese teacher, politician and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) of Chinese history. His thoughts has profound and far-reaching influence in China, and was firstly introduced in western world about 400 years ago when the Analects, a book concerning his teaching and behavior, was translated into Latin and brought to Europe.