The opening ceremony of the "Chinese Bridge" club in Cairo was held a few days ago. Chinese and Egyptian guests attended the ceremony online and offline.
"China’s economy and technology are developing rapidly, and Chinese is one of the most important languages in the world. Nowadays, more and more young Egyptians are learning Chinese. Chinese is also one of the basic languages of professors in Egyptian universities. " Mohamed Ayman ashur, Egyptian Deputy Minister of Higher Education, expressed the hope that more exchanges and cooperation will be carried out with China in the fields of culture, education and scientific research in the future.
Liao Liqiang, Ambassador of China to Egypt, delivered a speech, saying that the establishment of the Cairo Station of the Chinese Bridge Club has built a communication platform for young Egyptian friends who like Chinese, and laid a foundation for the two sides to continue to strengthen cooperation.
After the unveiling ceremony, some Egyptian student representatives, as "ambassadors of Chinese learning youth communication", collectively read out the proposal of "learning Chinese to help the economic development of Egypt and China". Weronika, a junior at Suez Canal University, is one of them. She won the special prize in the final of the 20th "Chinese Bridge" World University Students Chinese Competition held not long ago, and will represent Egypt in the global finals. Recently, Weronika released many video works to introduce Egyptian customs in Chinese, which attracted a lot of attention. "I look forward to visiting China as soon as possible, gaining an in-depth understanding of China’s long history of civilization and profound cultural heritage, and contributing to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples."
Egypt has a good tradition of teaching Chinese. In 1958, a Chinese major was established, which was the first country in the Middle East and Africa to teach Chinese. At present, there are 16 Egyptian universities offering Chinese majors or Chinese courses. Last September, Chinese teaching was formally included in the Egyptian primary and secondary education syllabus. The Egyptian Ministry of Education said not long ago that it will take the lead in offering Chinese as a second foreign language elective course in 10 middle schools next year.
"I hope the club will play an active role in promoting communication and cultural mutual learning between young people of the two countries." Xu Yanhe, executive chairman of the "Chinese Bridge" club in Cairo, said that in the future, the club will regularly hold Chinese competitions, offer courses on China culture and traditional etiquette, and organize lectures on corporate culture in China.
(The newspaper Cairo)
People’s Daily (June 22, 2021, 03 edition)