[News from the News Center] On September 27 (September 28, Beijing time), the 2570th anniversary of the birth of the great philosopher Confucius,the University of ToledoConfucius Institute(UTCI)held a grand celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment ofUTCI. YSU President Zhao Dingxuan leads a delegation to attend the 10th Anniversary celebration. Dr. William Ayres, Associate Dean of the University of Toledo, Dr. Sammy Spann, Assistant Vice President, Dr. Dan Johnson, former President, the representatives from the municipal government of Toledo and Head of the Twin-city Association, all members of the Council of the Confucius Institute, people from the Regional Chinese Association and other guests from other Confucius Institutes, and some of the former Chinese presidents ofUTCIparticipated in the celebration.
President Zhao Dingxuan delivered a speech.
Dr. Ayres, Deputy Dean of the University of Toledo spoke at the ceremony.
Zhao Dingxuan delivered a warm speech at the celebration. He reviewed the beautiful history of YSU’s exchange-programs and cooperation with UT for more than 30 years. He spoke highly of the traditional friendship between the two universities and the fruitful achievement in various fields. He emphasized that solid foundation -- “Yanshan University Toledo College”(2007) built by the leaders of the two universities, including Mr. Daniel Johnson and Mr. Liu Hongmin, from which the Confucius Institute at the University of Toledo was developed and established in 2009. In the past ten years, the Confucius Institute has spared no efforts to contribute to the Chinese language and culture learning in local schools at different levels and communities.UTCIhas been serving as a bridge and for exchanges and cooperation between the two universities, and promoted the development of international education in the two universities. He hoped that the two universities could maintain the good friendship and jointly make a promising future forUTCI.
YSU delegation attended the 10th anniversary celebration.
William Ayres delivered a speech and warmly welcome YSU delegation headed by Zhao Dingxuan for attending the 10th anniversary ofUTCI. He said thatUTCIhas promoted the development of local Chinese language and cultural projects, but also established a platform for communication between the two universities and the people of the two countries and cities. He thanked Yanshan University for its strong support for the construction of the Confucius Institute over the years, as well as its excellent team of teachers and projects. He hopes that the cooperation between the two universities will move toward and look forward to next decade of the development of Confucius Institute.
At the ceremony, Daniel Johnson, Sammy Spann and Savannah Brewer, a member of the 2017 High School Summer Camp of Confucius Institute, spoke as special guests. They shared their beautiful stories in China and talked about their relationship with Yanshan University and the Confucius Institute at Toledo University. They expressed a sincere blessing to the Confucius Institute. The representatives from the Ohio Governor’s Office and the Toledo City Government presented the Confucius Institute with a certificate of honor in recognition of the Confucius Institute’s outstanding contribution to building a cultural Greater Toledo. They expressed their good wishes to the Confucius Institutes at different places in Ohio. Zhao Dingxuan presented a portrait of Confucius produced by craft from Weixian County of Hebei Province toUTCIas a present for the10th anniversary.
President Zhao Dingxuan presented gift toUTCIon behalf of YSU.
YSU International Education and Exchange Practice Baseunveiled
YSU dance performance
Group photo of Confucius Institute 10th Anniversary Celebration
At the ceremony, with the blessings of more than 40,000 teachers and students, 12 students from YSU gave a special performance to the guests, which brought the 10th anniversary celebration ofUTCIto a climax
Before the celebration, Zhao Dingxuan met with representatives of all parties and had friendly conversations with them. At the ceremony, Zhao Dingxuan and William Ayres jointly unveiled the “Yanshan University International Education and Exchange Practice Base”, marking that theUTCIwill begin to accept the overseas internship practice of the Master of Chinese International Education at YSU. At the ceremony, the Confucius Institute also hosted the “Exhibition of the past decade” and “YSU achievements exhibition”, which attracted many guests to stop and watch.
[Translated by Yu Miao]
