Inauguration Ceremony of Institute of Confucius with University at Buffalo

On April 9th, CNU s fifth Institute of Confucius was established in State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. The CNU delegation led by Gong Huili, executive vice president attended the inauguration ceremony and celebrations in US. About 500 guests participated, including Cen Jianjun, Counselor of Consulate-General of PRC in New York, John B. Simpson, president of University at Buffalo, some professors and scholars at Buffalo, local superintendents and representatives of various fields. Dr. Xu Lin, Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Director-General of Hanban sent her letter of congratulations.
University at Buffalo (UB) is the first American university that signed cooperation agreement with Chinese university after Sino-US relationship came back to normal. It enjoyed a 30-year friendship with CNU and has received many scholars and faculty members to visit and study there. President Simpson said in his remarks: Three decades ago, UB began to provide English training for Chinese student to study in US, and this seems to have happened just yesterday. Nowadays more and more Institutes of Confucius are being set up to teach Chinese to American students and people, helping them with their study in China and trade as well as economic cooperation with Chinese. UB will make the newly established institute an important player in Sino-US cultural exchange, and take this opportunity to proactively contribute more to wider cultural and people-to-people exchange between the two countries.
In his remarks, Gong Huili reviewed the friendly cooperation between the two universities. He noted: The Institute of Confucius will help not only expand the cultural exchange between our two universities, but also spread Chinese language and culture around the State of New York. By meeting the needs of local people to know more about China, the institute can finally contribute to Sino-US friendship. He concluded the speech by saying, Today, we are endowed by history with such a good opportunity to write a new chapter of cooperation. CNU will spare no efforts to provide teaching and other support for the development of the Institute. We will work together with UB to develop an Institute of Confucius with its own characteristics.
On behalf of Consulate-General of PRC in New York and Consul General Peng Keyu, Cen Jianjun extended congratulations to the establishment of Institute of Confucius at Buffalo. He compared the Institute to a bridge over the Pacific, a bridge that linked China to US and made positive contributions to better understanding and people-to-people friendship between the two countries. He believed that the Confucius Institute at buffalo was both relevant and far-reaching. It would teach Chinese language and culture to local schools and people, and hence strengthen the understanding and communication between the two peoples and improve the friendship and bilateral cooperation.
A spectacular performance of Chinese folk music and dance was presented by students from both universities and local Chinese communities to celebrate the ceremony.