On Oct. 12th, the inauguration of the Confucius Institute at University of the Philippines, co-built by XMU and UP, was held at the Diliman Campus, marking the official establishment of the 16th Confucius Institute co-built by XMU and the fourth one in thePhilippines.

    Zhu Chongshi, President of XMU, led a delegation to attend the ceremony and addressed the participants. Zhao Jianhua, Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, Alfredo E. Pascual, President of UP, Michael Lim Tan, President of UP Diliman and many other friends from the Philippines were also present at the ceremony.

    On behalf of XMU, President Zhu Chongshi expressed congratulations to the establishment of the Confucius Institute at UP. He said that XMU and UP were sister universities with a long history of cooperation. Since the signing of the agreement on intercollegiate exchanges between the two sides in 2000, there has been frequent cooperation and exchanges in natural sciences, engineering technology, humanities, social sciences and so on. The co-built Confucius Institute was a new initiative for bilateral cooperation and exchanges, which would promote understanding and friendship between Chinese people and people from other countries and would be a bridge of friendship connectingChinaand thePhilippines.

    Zhan Xinli, vice-President of XMU, read out the congratulatory letter from Xu Lin, Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters and Director General of Hanban of China, in which Madam Xu noted that the friendship between Chinese and Philippine people dates back to ancient times. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations betweenChinaand the Philippines, adding prominence to the newly-built Confucius Institute. With the joint efforts of all parties concerned, the Confucius Institute would play an important role in helping Philippine people learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture and make contribution to strengthen friendship between people from the two countries.

    UP President Alfredo E. Pascual and UP Diliman President Michael Lim Tan also addressed the ceremony. President Alfredo E. Pascual reviewed the process of preparation and building of the Confucius Institute and stressed its importance in promoting mutual understanding between people from the two countries and enhancing mutual learning among civilizations. President Michael Lim Tan expressed his hopes that as the youngest Confucius Institute in the Philippines, it could work closely with other institutes in the country to achieve better results.

    Fascinating performances were staged by students from both XMU and UP, which demonstrated the friendly cultural exchanges between the two countries. There was also a photographic exhibition featuring XMU.

    The inauguration attracted wide attention from the media. CNN Philippines, World News, Chinese World, Business News andUnited Daily all gave coverage of the event. XMU Philippine Alumni Association, Philippines Chinese School Association, Chiang Kai Shek College of the Philippines, President of the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce Zhang Zhaohe and some other XMU alumni in the Philippines all have their congratulatory letters published in local newspapers.

    Founded in 1908, University of the Philippines now comprises 51 colleges with a total enrolment of over 50,000 students. It is the largest national comprehensive university and ranks first among the top four universities in the Philippines. The university consists of four campuses. The Manila campus focuses on medicine; the Los Baños campus concentrates on agriculture and related fields; the Visayas campus specializes in fisheries and aquaculture; the Diliman campus features a complete range of disciplines and is in itself a comprehensive university with humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, science of technology and economic management.

    President Zhu also called on and enthusiastically addressed XMU alumni in the Philippines.