Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China visited UCD CI

At the invitation of Mr.Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, Mr.Zhang Chunxian, the vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of People’s Republic of China led a delegation to visit Ireland from 7th July 2019 to 10th July 2019. During the visit, the delegation visited UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland and held a symposium with teachers and students of the Confucius Institute.

Several important guests also attended the symposium. They are Mr. He Xiangdong, ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Ireland, Mr. Dolores O’Riordan, vice-chancellor of University College Dublin, Professor Wang Liming, director of UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland and Mr. Zhang Wei, Chinese director of UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland.

The vice chairman Mr. Zhang Chunxian and his delegation first visited the new building of the Confucius institute. The delegation observed real-time one-to-one video teaching, and Mr. Zhang exchanged online with foreign students.

At the symposium, the delegation watched a short film produced by UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland and had a further understanding of the promotion of Chinese language teaching in Ireland. The vice chairman said: "it is a great pleasure to visit UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, which is the best Confucius institute I have ever seen. "

"On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ireland, cultural exchanges between the two countries have become more important," Mr. Zhang said.

"I believe that UCD’s open attitude towards Chinese students and the promotion of Chinese language education by the Confucius institutes in Ireland will make the bilateral exchanges of the two countries  have broad and promising prospects."

The new building of UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland has won the 2019 Irish architectural design of the year award - best architectural design for education. During the visit, the vice chairman Mr. Zhang unveiled the architectural design award of the building and took photos with faculty and staff of the institute.