刘晓明大使在全英孔子学院大会上的讲话

Speech by H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming At the UK Confucius Institute National

Conference

刘晓明大使在全英孔子学院大会上的讲话

Portcullis House, 14 September 2011

2011年9月14日，伦敦新议会大厦

Mr Lindsay Hoyle,

Mr Wang Yongli,

Mr Mark Hendrick,

Professor Martin Earwicker,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

尊敬的英国议会副议长林赛·霍伊尔先生，

尊敬的中国国家汉办副主任王永利先生，

尊敬的英国议会中国小组主席马克·亨德里克先生，

尊敬的伦敦南岸大学校长马丁·艾尔维克教授，

女士们、先生们：

It’s a real delight for me to be with you again today.

Let me first express my warm thanks to the organisers of this UK Confucius Institute National Conference. These are the All Party Parliamentary China Group and London South Bank University. It is your support that has brought the conference to such a distinguished and unique location, the British Parliament.

My thanks also go to Han Ban for leading the effort for Mandarin promotion in Britain.

This UK Confucius Institute National Conference embodies the important task of building deep, lasting and long term Sino-UK understanding.

Creating that kind of understanding will be won in schools and universities. So, I appreciate very much this opportunity to share my thoughts with university and school leaders. It is they who have done so much to promote Mandarin teaching here in Britain.

很高兴出席全英孔子学院大会，与全英国从事汉语教学和支持汉语教学的院长和校长们齐聚一堂。首先，我要感谢此次会议的主办方——英国议会跨党派中国小组和伦敦南岸大学，使得此次会议能在英国议会这样一个特殊的地点举行。同时，我也要感谢中国国家汉办多年来对在英推广汉语的重视和支持。

In my 18 months in the UK, I have attended many cultural activities. Among them, events related to Mandarin promotion, Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms have always been a priority for me. Whenever my schedule allows, I will always turn up and take part!

我出任中国驻英国大使已是一年半有余，出席过中英之间举办的各种文化活动，其中事关汉语推广、孔子学院和孔子课堂的活动，我不仅是优先参加，而且有请必到。

In fact, the first event I attended as Chinese Ambassador to the UK was the UK preliminary

for the ‘Ninth Chinese Bridge Competition.’ As you may know, this is a highly successful global contest organised by Han Ban.

Then last September, I spoke at the Second Joint Conference of European Confucius Institutes.

Shortly afterwards, I unveiled the Confucius C lassroom at the St Mary’s Primary School.

When Vice Premier Li Keqiang was here on an official visit this past January, I was with him at an exchange with British students learning Mandarin.

Two months later, I joined His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at the official unveiling of the Confucius Classroom at Llandovery College in Wales.

The same month, I attended the UK Regional Final for the ‘Tenth Chinese Bridge Competition.’

In two days time I will be giving a reception at our Embassy for the UK contestants in the ‘Chinese Bridge Competitions’. They will be joined by their teachers and families.

That will be another occasion for us to celebrate the outstanding performances of these young British contestants. It is a proud symbol of the success in Mandarin teaching in this country.

去年3月我刚到任时，参加的第一场公众活动是第九届世界大学生“汉语桥”比赛英国区预选赛；接着，参加了欧洲孔子学院联席会；不久又为伦敦圣玛丽小学孔子课堂揭牌；今年1月，我陪同到访的李克强副总理会见了英国汉语学习爱好者；3月，我同查尔斯王子一同出席了威尔士兰德福瑞公学孔子课堂的揭牌仪式；当月，我又出席了第十届世界大学生“汉语桥”比赛英国区预选赛。今天，我出席全英孔子学院大会；后天，我还要在中国驻英使馆为历届参加“汉语桥”比赛的英国选手及老师亲友举行招待会，祝贺他们接连在比赛中取得优异成绩。

You may now be asking: Why is the Chinese Ambassador devoting so much time on Mandarin promotion in the UK?

There are three reasons. Let me take each in turn.

为什么我这么重视在英国的汉语推广？我想，原因有三：

First, Mandarin is at the very core of Chinese culture and civilization. It is one of the most popular cultural products of China.

So if China is to be truly understood and integrated with the world, we must promote the learning of Mandarin.

One question put to me by many visiting Chinese delegations is this: “What does Britain sell most to the rest of the world?”

I respond: “That must be English”!

Let me give you some compelling statistics. Today, roughly 1 billion people are learning English worldwide. An additional 1.5 to 2 billion are speaking or exposed to English every day.

In contrast, Mandarin is spoken by over 1 billion users. This means Mandarin has more native speakers than any other language.

More importantly, Mandarin is part of the very ‘DNA’ of Chinese civilisation, the core building block of Chinese culture. China is the longest continuous civilisation in the world. Mandarin has been an integral part of the development of China for the past five millennia.