2018 UN Chinese Day

20 April, 2018, United Nations Chinese Language Day celebrations organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was held at Bangkok United Nations Conference Center. Upon invitation, CIAU contributed to the celebrations.

Mr. Edmond Oganian, ESCAP Focal Point for Multilingualism and Chief of the Conference and Documentation Services Section said in his speech that Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world, one of the official languages since the United Nations was founded, in 1973 it officially became the working language in UN, Chinese contributed a lot to the diversity of world’s language and culture. In his speech, Mr. Hong LI, Permanent Representative of China to UNESCAP said that Chinese Language Day aimed at letting more people know, study, love and use Chinese language, Confucius Institutes made great contributions to promoting Chinese language and culture, there were 16 Confucius Institutes and 11 Confucius Classrooms in Thailand. He hoped that the staff of ESCAP who wants to learn Chinese language and culture could make full use of the resources and platform provided by Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms.

The celebrations included a short documentary on Chinese language, Chinese singing, Chinese stand-up comedy, Gu Zheng solo, Tai Chi performance and experiencing Chinese calligraphy. Thai child learners of CIAU gave a choir singing Jasmine Flower in Chinese and showed their love for Chinese language and culture. Their lovely and vivid performance won them loud applause.

After the celebrations, Mr. Zhao Peiqin, the Chinese director of CIAU, and Mr. Wang Zheng, the contact person of the Conference and Documentation Services Section of ESCAP had a talk. The two sides agreed on further cooperation in the promotion of Chinese language and culture.

 

Written by Ms. Wen Pan

Photographed by Ms. Zhou Jingping

Translated by Ms. Cao Le

Revised by Mr. Zhao Peiqin