Chinese Lib Dems attend Confucius Institute National Conference

At the Confucius Institute National Congress hosted by the All Party Parliamentary China Group at Portcullis House today, we heard of how the organisation has grown from scratch in 2004 to having 350 institutes in 104 countries.

Dep Director General Wang Yong-Li of Hanban flew in from China to attend the event and joked about how he would like to start a Confucius Institute in Parliament for MPs to learn to speak Mandarin.

Ambassador Liu spoke of how important the teaching of Mandarin was to understanding modern China and in strengthening Sino-UK relations. While the head of Ernst & Young's China Investment team could not stress enough the need for more professional staff working in the UK to be able to "understand both sides of the world" especially as more and more Chinese companies seek to invest in UK and Europe.

Merlene Emerson, Chair of Chinese Lib Dems shared with the panel of her experience as a parent getting her children to study Mandarin in London as well as the current shortage of qualified Chinese language teachers. Elizabeth Reid, Chief Exec of Specialist Schools (SSAT) projected that there should be 1000 more trained Mandarin teachers coming on stream in the next 5 years with the support of both the UK Government and Hanban of China.

Other speakers included the Minister Counsellor for Education from the Chinese Embassy, as well as the Vice Chancellors of the University of Edinburgh and London South Bank University on the Sustainability of Confucius Institutes.