On September 23, 2016, the 3rd Confucius Institute Headquarters Open Day, with the theme "The Multicultural Silk Road", was held in Beijing.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Xu Lin, the chief executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and director general of Hanban. Xu Lin introduced the development and the current situation of the Confucius Institute and said that over the next five years the headquarters’ open day event will carry out themed activities with a focus on “Silk Road”.
2016 Rio Olympic Game champions, like track cycling team sprint champion Gong Jinjie, 20 km walking race champion Liu Hong, and chief coach of the men's foil team Wang Haibin, were present at the scene and shared their stories of the Olympic Games, which was a great surprise to the audience.
The Chinese Language Centre of the Open University of China (OUC) had made careful plans to organise its Confucius Institute scholarship students to participate in the art exhibition Pilgrimage Road/ The Footprints of the Saints: From Dunhuang to the Iberian Peninsula, the Chinese culture experience centre, the global tour exhibition of the Confucius Institute, Chinese gourmet food experience activities, and The Same Song on the Silk Road party event for international students in China.
Among all the activities, the students showed a particular interest in the exhibition of Chinese culture experience centre. Some students were lingering in front of the interactive electronic screens to write their own names with a Chinese writing brush. Some were enjoying striking the chimes and taking photos with models of the Terracotta Army soldiers. Some were trying on Peking Opera costumes and listening to the teachers explain the basic characters in Peking Opera. Kwon Ohjeong from South Korea and Ionut Nastase from Romania were two particularly lucky guys. When they were trying on the Peking Opera costumes, track cycling team sprint champion from the Rio Olympic Games Gong Jinjie, came over and enthusiastically chatted with the students. She told the students that the design of the helmet she wore at the games, which contains an image of Mu Guiying, a heroine with a great reputation in Chinese history, was inspired by Peking Opera. Being able to have a chance to see the Chinese Olympic champion, the two students said they were too happy to believe it.
photo of the students and the executive deputy director of the Chinese Language Centre, OUC, Yang Yongbo (second from the right), and deputy director Wang Shuo (far right).
Group photo of the students and the Rio Olympic champion, Gong Jinjie.
Students wearing Peking Opera costumes.
Students enjoying writing Chinese characters.
By Chen Meng,OUC