Published:9:00pm,4 Jul.2020
SCMP.COM
China / Diplomacy
China’s Confucius Institutes rebrand after overseas propaganda rows
Hanban changes name 16 years after first overseas language and culture outpost established
New organisation aims to keep up cooperation with international partners, particularly in the United States, senior official says
Hundreds of Confucius Institutes were set up around the world. Photo: Handout
Beijing is abandoning its Confucius Institute brand after a global backlash over censorship, switching to a new look as a centre for “language exchange and cooperation”.
In a directive to lower-level agencies, the Ministry of Education said the Confucius Institute Headquarters, or Hanban, had changed its name to the Ministry of Education Centre for Language Education and Cooperation.
Addressing more than 4,000 teachers of Chinese language in US, centre director general Ma Jianfei said the organisation would still promote international cultural exchanges.
“The centre particularly hopes to expand cooperation with relevant institutions in the US and jointly build a more focused, pragmatic, and efficient new model for China-US language exchanges, and strive to contribute to the promotion of China-US cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between the people of the two countries,” Ma was quoted as saying in a statement on the website of the Confucius Institute Headquarters.
Sun Yixue, from the International School of Tongji University in Shanghai, said the name change was
“related to various kinds of pressure, but it is by no means succumbing to them”.
“It is a manifestation of Chinese culture that regards harmony as a precious cultural tradition,” Sun said.
“It is a timely adjustment made by China to adapt to the new situation of world language and cultural exchanges, but this does not mean that all overseas Confucius Institutes should be renamed accordingly.”
Sun said most of work by the Confucius Institutes was still Chinese language training and giving overseas students an in-depth understanding of China, making the institute an important way to attract more foreign students to China.
by Zhuang Pinghui
