China News Service, Xiamen, March 12th: How to jointly promote the sustainable development of Chinese education in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road"?
——Exclusive interview with Hu Jiangang, deputy dean of the Chinese Education Research Institute of Huaqiao University
Author Peng Lifang
The initiatives to jointly build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" were proposed in the autumn of 2013. The continuous advancement of the "Belt and Road" construction has brought new opportunities for the exchange, integration and development of Chinese education, and also New requirements were made.
How to jointly promote the sustainable development of Chinese education in countries along the “Maritime Silk Road”?
Hu Jiangang, deputy dean of the Chinese Education Research Institute of Huaqiao University and secretary-general of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance (referred to as the "Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance"), recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" on this issue.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
Reporter from China News Service: On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the “Belt and Road” initiative, the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance was established in Xiamen. What kind of community organization is this? What is the significance of its establishment?
Hu Jiangang:
On December 16, 2023, the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance was established in Xiamen.
The alliance was initiated by the Fujian Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, the Overseas Chinese Federation, the Provincial Department of Education, the Provincial Chinese Vocational Education Association and Huaqiao University. On the premise of friendly consultation and cooperative development, it was voluntarily established in conjunction with domestic schools, overseas Chinese schools and Chinese education organizations. It is a Chinese-language alliance An exchange and cooperation platform for high-quality education development.
On December 16, 2023, the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance was officially established.
The picture shows the opening group photo of leaders and guests.
Photo provided by interviewee
The establishment of the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance is to practice the Silk Road spirit of "peaceful cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning, mutual benefit and win-win", and to promote in-depth cooperation among Chinese education institutions in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road", in terms of teacher training, talent Achieve complementary advantages, resource sharing, and common development in terms of training, cultural experience, inter-school exchanges, and resource construction to help build high-quality "One Belt, One Road".
On December 16, 2023, the guests present inaugurated the Silk Road Alliance.
Photo provided by interviewee
Reporter from China News Service: What kind of journey has Chinese education in the countries along the “Maritime Silk Road” taken?
Hu Jiangang:
Countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" are the first areas where Chinese overseas immigrants arrive, and they are also the places where overseas Chinese education sprouts.
Historically, the earliest Chinese school with written records was Mingcheng Academy founded in Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia, in 1690.
Cui Ying College in Singapore was established in 1854 and has been in operation for a hundred years.
In the auditorium of the Confucius Temple Chinese School in Penang, Malaysia, there is still a plaque "Shengjiao Nanji" given by Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty hanging there.
Chinese education in the countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" has gone through a process from national education for overseas Chinese to folk education of Chinese language and culture.
The earliest Chinese education was a comprehensive quality education provided by overseas Chinese to their children overseas. It was an extension of Chinese national education overseas.
For hundreds of years, overseas Chinese education has always upheld the fine tradition of selfless dedication and inheritance of Chinese culture, passing on the fire from generation to generation.
The earliest Chinese school with written records in history - Indonesian Mingcheng Academy.
Picture source network
Reporter from China News Service: What new characteristics and needs do Chinese education present in countries along the “Maritime Silk Road”? What are the difficulties?
Hu Jiangang:
As the construction of the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” deepens and becomes more concrete, Chinese education in the countries along the “Maritime Silk Road” presents four characteristics:
First, children of Chinese descent and children of local friendly ethnic groups should pay equal attention.
On the one hand, more and more local children are entering Chinese schools to study; on the other hand, as more countries list Chinese as one of the optional foreign languages in primary and secondary schools, more and more mainstream schools in the host countries are cooperating with Chinese schools. Cooperate with schools to offer Chinese courses.
For example, the Overseas Chinese School in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, has opened Chinese courses for three local universities. More than 400 Mexican college students take Chinese courses every year.
Second, cultural inheritance and mutual learning among civilizations go hand in hand.
Chinese education helps overseas Chinese teenagers understand the language and culture of their own nation and actively absorb the excellent cultural traditions of the Chinese nation.
Chinese education is increasingly becoming an important carrier for “telling Chinese stories well” and an important channel for people in other countries to recognize, understand, appreciate and even identify with Chinese culture.
Huayin Chinese School in Frankfurt, Germany won the 2020 Frankfurt Integration Award, becoming the first Asian group to win this award. This is because the school pays attention to the diversity of teachers and students and the diversity of cultural activities while teaching Chinese to children of different ethnic groups in Frankfurt. and diversification of social interactions.
The 8th "Chinese Culture Competition" in 2022 will hold a cloud awards ceremony.
Photo provided by interviewee
Third, language, culture and professional Chinese go hand in hand.
As the “Belt and Road” construction continues to advance, there is an increasing demand for international professionals who use Chinese as their professional language, and the application value of Chinese continues to increase.
Based on this, Chinese schools in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" should actively participate in "Chinese+" vocational Chinese language teaching and training, cultivate Chinese language talents in the workplace, cultivate urgently needed Chinese talents overseas for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", and develop them into a new growth point.
Fourth, physical classrooms and “cloud classrooms” coexist.
During the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, "cloud classrooms" and "cloud campuses" have become one of the mainstream forms of Chinese teaching.
In the post-epidemic era, although countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" have resumed offline Chinese teaching in physical classrooms in stages and steps, online teaching has also remained.
Online teaching has unique advantages when it comes to teaching Chinese to students in areas where there are no Chinese schools, or when it is necessary to hire outstanding teachers from different schools in other places to teach.
At the same time, Chinese education in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" is also facing problems such as a shortage in the number of Chinese teachers.
In addition, many online youth education institutions have moved to overseas Chinese training tracks, using information technology to rapidly expand Chinese teaching space, which to a certain extent has also squeezed the educational space of traditional Chinese schools.
The 2023 "Chinese Education·Chinese Teachers" seminar entered the Longren Guqin Cultural Village in Zhangzhou, Fujian.
Photo provided by interviewee
Reporter from China News Service: How can we jointly promote the sustainable development of Chinese education in countries along the “Maritime Silk Road”?
Hu Jiangang:
In response to the above new needs and new issues, it is very necessary to establish an effective communication and cooperation platform for the field of Chinese education in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road".
Only by adhering to the concept of "mutual assistance, sharing, and win-win" can we effectively break through the blockages in the development of Chinese education in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road".
To this end, the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance will focus on the following aspects:
The first is to assist in the construction of teaching staff of alliance member units and promote the sharing of outstanding teachers.
Organize teachers and managers from overseas alliance schools to go to domestic alliance schools for training and further studies, and select outstanding domestic teachers to lecture and teach in overseas alliance schools to improve the overall quality of Chinese teachers in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road".
Steadily promote the construction of the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance teacher information database and realize teacher sharing.
The second is to vigorously promote exchanges and cooperation among member units, and organize activities such as "hand-in-hand" for Chinese teachers and "face-to-face" for Chinese students to enhance understanding and friendship between teachers and students at home and abroad.
Promote domestic schools to establish sister schools with overseas Chinese schools and carry out inter-school exchanges and cooperation.
So far, the alliance has promoted the signing of a "Chinese Education + Vocational Education" cooperation memorandum between the Chinese Vocational Education Association of Fujian Province and the Philippine Chinese Education Center, and more than 10 groups of alliance members have signed inter-school cooperation agreements on Chinese education.
Representatives of members of the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance signed a contract to start cooperation.
Photo provided by interviewee
The third is to understand the needs of front-line Chinese teaching and carry out targeted construction of teaching resources.
We will jointly build and share micro-videos (audio) that reflect Chinese culture, "Maritime Silk Road" culture, and Fujian culture, and open the "Silk Road Chinese Education·Eight Fujian Micro Classroom".
In-depth cooperation with overseas member units to improve and develop localized Chinese teaching materials for different countries.
Develop intelligent products for Chinese education, support Chinese education robots to "go overseas", and promote the informatization and intelligence of overseas Chinese education.
The fourth is to strengthen discipline construction and carry out research on Chinese education.
The "Silk Road Chinese Education Seminar" is held every year, and member units of the alliance at home and abroad take turns holding it to carry out Chinese education seminars and build a discussion and exchange platform for alliance members.
Establish a research-based special research project on Chinese education, focus on supporting collaborative research among alliance members at home and abroad, and form a batch of think tank-type research results with application value.
On December 24, 2023, the "Chinese Education-Chinese Teachers" workshop party performed Sichuan Opera Face Changing.
Photo provided by interviewee
Reporter from China News Service: How can Chinese education better serve the “Belt and Road” construction?
Hu Jiangang:
Chinese education serves the “Belt and Road” construction and has great potential in vigorously promoting the industrialization of Chinese education and the communityization of Chinese cultural dissemination.
To promote the industrialization of Chinese education, we must guide and support alliance members to strengthen ties with Chinese companies that are going global to build the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, accurately grasp the needs of various companies, and provide full-caliber, customized language services for Chinese companies developing locally. Cultural series services.
On this basis, we advocate alliance members to join forces, share resources, collaboratively formulate industry standards, and jointly create a Chinese education industry brand.
Overseas Chinese students had a party together.
Photo provided by interviewee
“Chinese Cultural Paradise” enters Laos.
Photo provided by interviewee
A Chinese school is a Chinese cultural center with the characteristics of community-based cultural communication and strong acceptability.
Chinese schools in countries along the "Maritime Silk Road" must build localized brand projects for community communication of Chinese culture based on multicultural concepts, promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese culture and civilizations in other countries and regions around the world, and continue to build a "Belt and Road Initiative" bridge of people-to-people ties and solidify the public opinion foundation for jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.
(over)
Interviewee profile:
Hu Jiangang, professor, is the deputy dean of the Chinese Education Research Institute of Huaqiao University, the deputy dean of the Chinese Language School, and the secretary-general of the Silk Road Chinese Education Alliance. He has long been committed to researching overseas Chinese education.
He has presided over more than 10 scientific research projects, including comparative studies of Chinese schools in Southeast Asia and research on the development, problems and countermeasures of Chinese textbooks in the 21st century. He has edited or co-edited monographs and textbooks such as "Introduction to Chinese Education" and "Chinese Textbook Teaching Methods".