Chinese State Councilor Chen
Zhili on Wednesday granted a nameplate and donated some
Chinese-teaching materials to the Confucius institute in the
Mexican capital, the first of its kind in Latin America.
In a nameplate-granting ceremony at the Chinese embassy in
Mexico, China's ambassador to Mexico Ren Jingyu said that with
thedevelopment of China, the Chinese language has become an
increasingly important communication tool.
Currently, the Chinese language has been taught at about 20
Mexican colleges, the number of students majored in Chinese has
exceeded 1,000, and Chinese teachers are needed by many Mexican
colleges, according to Ren.
The founding of the Confucius Institute in Mexico will
contribute to the promotion of the learning of the Chinese language
and culture as well as the development of the Sino-Mexican ties,
said Ren.
The world's first Confucius Institute was opened in 2004 in
Seoul, Korea.
The Confucius Institute program was designed by China National
office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL) to
promote Chinese teaching worldwide and provide excellent teachers
and learning materials for overseas Chinese learners.
The number of Confucius Institutes around the world will reach
100 in the near future, according to the NOCFL.
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2006)
