The Dean of GDUFS Cape Verde Confucius Institute Interviewed on National Television

North Campus, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, October 21th 2021: Recently, in memory of the 2572th birthday of the great master Confucius, Zhou Fuqiang, the Chinese dean of GDUFS’s Confucius Institute of the university of Cape Verde, and Ermelinda Tavares, the foreign dean, were invited to give an interview by Cape Verde National Television.

Zhou Fuqiang being interviewed

In the interview, Zhou Fuqiang said ,Nowadays, Confucius’ thoughtshave become the core gene of Chinese culture. As one of the most important carriers of Chinese culture, the Confucius Institute has made positive contribution to cultural exchange and the peace of the world.

Ermelinda Tavares  talking about the development of the Confucius Institute of Cape Verde

Ermelinda Tavares briefly elaborated on the development of the Confucius Institute of Cape Verde in the recent years. She said that since the establishment of the institute in 2015, more and more people in Cape Verde have showed their interests in Chinese culture and taken the initiative to learn Chinese. In the Confucius Institute of Cape Verde, more than 50 Chinese teachers have held a post successively. The number of registered students has reached 5000, and hundreds of activities have been held. When talking about the current situation of the Confucius Institute, she pointed that the University of Cape Verde and its Confucius Institute would be moved into a new campus in August of this year, which was built with the help of the Ministry of Commerce of China. At the same time, the Confucius Institute of Cape Verde plans to recruit its first undergraduate students majoring in Chinese. In the next 5 to 10 years, the institute will devote itself to cultivating local Chinese teachers with high levels of professional skill and a strong teaching ability, with the aim of providing high-quality teachers for middle schools offering Chinese courses.

This interview with a national television station is not only a local recognition of the Confucius Institute’s scale and capabilities, but also a unanimous acknowledgement of the Confucius Institute’s contribution to cultural exchange between the two countries. During the epidemic period, Zhou Fuqiang, the Chinese dean, and other Chinese teachers stood on the front line of teaching at the Confucius Institute. On September 15th, 5 Chinese teachers from GDUFS volunteered to visit Praia, the capital of the Cape Verde, for Chinese teaching. In the future, our school’s Confucius Institute of Cape Verd will keep on expanding itself, establishing the brand of GDUFS Confucius Institutes, and promoting the development of Chinese teaching in the Cape Verde.

At present, GDUFS is the university which set up the largest number of Confucius Institutes, and also the first to do so in Guangdong province. GDUFS has undertaken seven Confucius Institutes(Classrooms) around the world: the Confucius Institute of the University of Sapporo, the Confucius Institute at the Russian Urals Federal, the Confucius Institute of the University of Saint Mary’s Catholic University in Peru, the Confucius Institute of the university of Cape Verde, the Confucius Institute of Ain Al Sham University, the Confucius Institute of the University of Porto, Portugal and the Lagerstroemia Australia Confucius Classroom.