First institute in New Jersey celebrated with song and dance
The traditional Chinese lion dance is a harbinger of good spirits and banisher of bad luck. Everyone was in good spirits on November 9 at Winants Hall when Rutgers and the Confucius Institute formally celebrated a new collaborative center devoted to the study and learning of Chinese language and culture.
“This traditional lion dance provides an auspicious beginning for this Confucius Institute,” said Robert Yu, a Rutgers sophomore and member of the Bergen Chinese School dance troupe, which performed an energetic, thumping, and colorful dance following the ceremony.
The Confucius Institute at Rutgers University (CIRU) will strengthen Rutgers’ already robust programs in Chinese language, literature, and culture, as well as promote the teaching and research of Chinese language and culture to residents of New Jersey.
“A Confucius Institute will help many more people at Rutgers and in this state to learn about the Chinese language and the Chinese culture,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. “Rutgers already has a strong Chinese studies program. This will only help students more, as well as introduce businesspeople and other New Jersey residents to Chinese language and culture. We are proud to bring this understanding to New Jersey and to the region.”
The Confucius Institutes started in 2004 – the first opened in Seoul, South Korea – as a way to promote the teaching and research of Chinese language and culture outside of China. There are more than 180 Confucius Institutes in 56 countries. The institutes are sponsored by the Office of Chinese Language Council International.
McCormick and Ching-I Tu, chair of Rutgers’ Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and CIRU’s director, will travel to Beijing in mid-December for the second Conference of the Confucius Institutes, a gathering for presidents of universities hosting Confucius Institutes, Confucius Institute directors, officials of the Chinese Ministry of Education, and education attachés from Chinese embassies around the world.
Among the activities and resources CIRU will provide to enhance Rutgers’ offerings are:
- Online Chinese-language teaching materials
- Study abroad programs
- Lecture series, workshops, conferences, and research on Chinese culture and contemporary China
- Specialized Chinese-language courses and Chinese-language teachers’ training programs
- Sponsorship of cultural activities, competitions, and expansion of library services
- Opportunities to Chinese-American heritage learners, business people, professionals, travelers, and artists
- Additional activities that will foster interest in Chinese language and cultural exchange within the university and among the general public
“This is the only institute in the state, and I am sure it will give us strong impetus to the development of Chinese learning ... The last few years under the leadership of President McCormick, Rutgers has attached great importance to Chinese-learning programs,” said Kuang Weilin, the acting consul general at China’s consulate-general in New York.
Weilin said an increasingly global world demands programs like the Confucius Institute to promote communication and understanding.
“The world is shrinking. More and more people are linked together,” he said. “More countries are confronted with challenges and opportunities. It’s more important that countries work together for common purposes.”
Confucius was a thinker and philosopher who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries, B.C. Tu said that the teachings of Confucius still are relevant more than 2,500 years later.
“Education, service to society, dedication to lifelong learning, ideas of openness – Confucius’s sayings remain an enduring and inexhaustible source of wisdom,” Tu said.
The ceremony – attended by many Rutgers administrators, local and state politicians, and civic and community leaders – was marked by the unveiling of a gilded plaque from China that will adorn the Confucius Institute once its location is finalized and the performance of a traditional Chinese song called “Water Music Prelude,” in addition to the lion dance.
“The poem says that you cannot change a lot of things in life, but even though we are far apart, we both still look at the same moon,” said Siu Chin, a vocalist originally from Hong Kong who performs at numerous charity events throughout New Jersey. “China and the United States are far apart but share the same goals.”