The Delegation led by H.E. ZHENG Jianbang visited the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland

On November 23rd, the delegation led by H.E. ZHENG Jianbang, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China visited the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland. The delegation was warmly received by Professor Barbabra Dooley, Acting Registrar and Deputy President of University College Dublin (UCD), Professor Liming Wang, Director of the UCD Confucius Institute, Professor Xie Jiangnan, Chinese Director of the UCD Confucius Institute, and other representatives of the staff and students.

The delegation first visited the exhibition showcasing the 17-year progress made by the Confucius Institute and then enjoyed the wonderful performs specially prepared by the students. These performances included an Irish organ solo by Thomas O Donoghue, a UCD student, clapper talk by Arinjay Mehrotra, a secondary school student, as well as a Chinese martial arts performance by Lucas Michael Daly, a primary school student. The performances received round after round of enthusiastic applause.

During the meeting with the delegation, Ms Shauna Hughes, Director of Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility, presented an overview of UCD and its cooperation and exchange programmes with China. Professor Liming Wang invited the delegation to watch a short video film highlighting the 17 years of development of the Confucius Institute and briefed the delegation his new strategic positioning and direction for the future development of the Confucius Institute. H.E. Zheng Jianbang and members of the delegation highly appreciated the contribution of UCD and its Confucius Institute in the fields of education, culture and business cooperation and exchange between China and Ireland, and hoped that the UCD Confucius Institute would make greater contribution to the development of the relationship between China and Ireland.