习大大称赞英国孔子学院的作用

Addressing the opening ceremony of the meeting, Xi Jinping is hailing the role of the Confucius Institutes in promoting Chinese culture worldwide.

The President says Confucius Institutes, as well as Confucius Classrooms, are important platforms for the world to get to know China.

"As important windows and bridges for linguistic and cultural exchanges between China and the world, Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms have played an active role in helping people around the world learn Mandarin, as well as understand China's culture. They have also made important contributions to China's people-to-people exchanges around the world, as well as the development of a diverse and colorful world civilization"

Xi Jinping was welcomed to the event in London by students at the Institutes, who serenaded him with a Chinese song and a poem written by the president himself in the 1990s.

Cameron Patterson from the University of Lancaster is among the performers.

"I think it's a very good idea to recite the poem which pays tribute to Jiao Yulu. It was also well written. I attended junior high school in China before. I remembered learning a lesson called 'Oasis in the Desert', which tells the story about Jiao Yulu."

Jiao Yulu is revered as a model official in China who worked in remote Lankao County in Henan during the 1960s.

There are currently 29 Confucius Institutes and 126 Confucius Classrooms in the UK, which is more than in any other country in Europe.

Xi Jinping says he hopes the teachers at the Confucius Institutes can help support the government's goal of creating stronger China-UK relations.

"I hope the Confucius Institutes will continue to follow their motto, which is mutual respect, friendly ties, equality and mutual benefit. We hope the teachers at the schools will be able to help deepen cultural exchanges, communication and developing minds to promote the diversity of civilizations around the world."

Following the ceremony, Xi Jinping, along with Prince Andrew, inaugurated the world's 1000th Confucius Institute in the British crown dependency of Jersey Island.

The Confucius Institutes are non-profit educational organizations put together by China's Ministry of Education.

The program itself began in 2004.

The Confucius Institute is sometimes compared to language and cultural promotion organizations such as the British Council, France's Alliance Fran?aise and Germany's Goethe-Institute, among others.

But compared to those organizations, Confucius Institutes are set up within established universities, colleges, and secondary schools around the world.

For CRI, I'm XYee.