State Councilor calls for joint efforts to boost Confucius Institutes

BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China will join hands with foreign counterparts to further improve the teaching quality of Confucius Institutes, said Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili at the second Confucius Institute Conference opened here on Tuesday.

To promote Chinese language and culture, China launched overseas Confucius Institute in 2004. The institute, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, has developed rapidly globally. So far, 210 Confucius Institutes have been established in 64 countries and regions.

Chen said, "at its primary stage, Confucius Institutes still face such problems as lack of qualified teachers, inadequate textbooks and insufficient teaching methods."

She said a long-term development plan should be drawn to ensure a sustainable development for the Confucius Institute, so that such key factors as investment, teacher, textbook and teaching methods be well arranged.

"To improve teaching quality, the Chinese government will make joint efforts with foreign counterparts to compile textbooks and to develop training programs more suitable for local people."

"In addition, more interesting courses such as traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese health care, culture, tourism and commerce will be added to meet learners' demand," Chen said.

Confucius Institutes will also improve its service to local primary and middle schools and play a more active role in internet-based Chinese language teaching and teachers' training program, she added.

China hosted the first Confucius Institute Conference in 2005 to officially announce the establishment of the first group of Confucius Institutes. This year, more than 1,000 delegates from home and abroad attended the conference. The delegates will discuss and draw up a charter for the Confucius Institute Headquarters (CIH), a permanent organization in charge of Confucius Institute affairs.

Education Minister Zhou Ji said that more than 200 institutes in 61 countries and regions have applied to open up Confucius Institutes in addition to the existing institutes. "China will give all possible help," he said.

According to Zhou, the headquarters has so far sent more than 300 teaching experts and presented 30 kinds of books to overseas Confucius Institutes. Total investment in Confucius Institutes reached 26 million U.S. dollars so far.