An African student sings a Chinese song at the Confucius Institute Headquarters Open Day ceremony on Friday. Photo: Courtesy of Confucius Institute Headquarters

International students celebrated Confucius Institute scholarships at the Confucius Institute's headquarters in Beijing, during its Open Day on November 8.

Representatives of diplomatic envoys and officials of cultural institutions from 30 countries, including those from countries that have shown interest in opening Confucius Institutes, participated in the event.

The officials from the US Embassy to China joined the celebration for the first time, and a Utah State Senator also came for discussion and consultancy in promoting the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), an international standardized Chinese language test which ranks proficiency in the language, in Utah.

By 2018, 548 Confucius Institutes and 1,193 Confucius classrooms were established in 158 countries and regions, serving tens of millions of Chinese learners around the world.  

It has become the most diversified international language education community in the world. Its open and inclusive education philosophy refutes the false accusations made up by a few countries, foreign students said.

Opportunities all over the world

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Confucius Institute Scholarship (CIS). Since it was established in 2009, nearly 50,000 students from 166 countries and regions have been awarded the scholarship. Some of them returned to their home countries to become Chinese language teachers or to be engaged in cultural exchanges, while others have settled down in China. 

Nishith Shah, from India, is one of them. He was awarded the scholarship in 2013 for spending one year in Central China's Henan Province. When he returned to Mumbai, he founded the "India China Academy," an institute committed to teaching Chinese and enhancing China-India cultural exchanges. It has trained more than 300 Indian students, aged 16 to 55, in language and cultural studies.

A graduate of Confucius Institute performs Chinese kuaiban on Friday. Photo: Courtesy of Confucius Institute Headquarters

The scholarship is open to global in-service teachers and students who are interested in a Chinese education career after graduation.

The Confucius Institute headquarters has been continuously diversifying its scholarships in recent years, such as granting the doctoral scholarships to students. 

The Institute also launched the special scholarship scheme for students from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, with a purpose of enhancing mutual understanding and friendship with the people from these countries.

Rajiv Ranjit from Nepal gained his doctorate degree in Xiamen, South China's Fujian Province, in 2018 upon scholarship. 

He thanked the Confucius Institute for providing him with a chance to understand China firsthand. He also expects the Confucius Institute headquarters to continue encouraging more Nepalese students to participate in teaching Chinese and making contributions to the cooperative China-Nepal strategic partnership.

Nguyen Thi Hoang Oanh, a director of Chinese studies at the Lac Hong University in Vietnam, said that Chinese has been more popular among Vietnamese youth since 2017. "From 2012 to 2016, there was only one class in our major every year, but we have expanded to five classes in 2019," she said at the Open Day ceremony.

Serve to resolve conflicts

Utah State Senator Jacob Anderegg turned up at the Open Day, with his passion of including HSK in the foreign language learning certification for Utah high school students. 

Utah is one of the states in the US that understands the importance of positive relations with China. "It is number one in Chinese education and has the largest Chinese learning population in the US," Anderegg told the Global Times. As early as 2006, the Utah legislature established exchanges and cooperation relations with the People's Congress of Liaoning Province in China. 

There is the conspiracy theory of what the purposes for those language learning are and what the Confucius Institutes efforts are. There is mistrust potentially, but that doesn't mean that it's true, Anderegg told the Global Times, responding to how some in the West misconstrue the Confucius Institute as a political organization.

"What we have found in Utah is that our language abilities actually propel this much further in our understanding of Chinese culture. I think that people who have those types of criticisms don't have a lot of experience working one on one with China or having friendships with Chinese," he said.

Anderegg said that now around 14,000 Utah K-12 students are learning Chinese. He believes that language can be a useful tool to help resolve certain aspects of conflicts between China and the US. "When you speak the same language, you can communicate effectively in ideas, concept and visions. When we have those common ties, it makes our progress going forward so much easier," he said.

"China needs the US and the US needs China. The first and second largest economies on the planet will be working together for a long time. So for sure, those language abilities will help our children to be prepared for global future," Anderegg said,