From 11 to 13 December 2009, Beijing played host to the annual world conference of the Confucius Institutes. Representatives from 282 institutes and 272 classes from 88 different countries globally were present to exchange ideas in discussion groups. During the conference, the Confucius Institute at GROUP T was declared Confucius Institute of the year for 2009.
Prof. Zhu Hengjun, Decaan van het Confucius Institute at GROUP T en Dhr. Wim Polet, Belgisch Directeur van het Confucius Institute at GROUP T. (Photo: Filip Van Loock)
Prof. Johan De Graeve, President and Chief Executive of GROUP T and Chairman of the Confucius Institute at GROUP T was there to receive the prestigious prize. Prof. De Graeve also acted as the chairman of the discussion group ‘How can the Chinese and the Host Universities contribute to the trade and economic exchange through the Confucius Institutes?’ in Beijing. During the plenary closing ceremony he presented the most important conclusions.
“These have been inspiring days and with the hope of capturing the spirit of the moment, I will try to summarize the part of the discussion that revolved around the topic of how the Chinese and Host Universities may contribute to trade and economic development through the Confucius Institutes”, according to Prof. De Graeve. “I would like to add that, thanks to the confidence that Prof. Chen Yulu, Vice President of the People’s University, has put in me, I will be speaking on behalf of the discussion group convened by him as well as my own group.”
Two sides of the same coin
“At the starting point of the discussion was the realization that this is the first time in the history of the Confucius Institutes that such a topic is on the agenda”, Prof. De Graeve continued. “I believe that this fact results from the Confucius Institute Headquarters’ finely tuned perception of our evolving environment. Indeed, the answer to the question ‘Can the Chinese and Host Universities contribute to trade and economic development through the Confucius Institutes?’ was a unanimous and enthusiastic ‘yes’. We are all convinced that, on the one hand, culture and language, and, on the other hand, trade and economic exchange, are two sides of the same coin.”
According to Prof. De Graeve, international trade needs knowledge and understanding of the economic partner’s culture and language in order to be successful. “As one of the panelists pointed out so fittingly: you can easily buy anything if you have enough money, but selling something without knowing your counterpart at all is quite a challenge. In return for the insight gained, trade enables cultural activities of all kinds to take place by giving them financial support.”
Insightful entrepreneurs
What does all this mean for the Confucius Institutes? “For the Confucius Institutes this means concretely that by organizing Chinese language courses and cross-cultural communication sessions, the Confucius Institutes can help to create insightful entrepreneurs. And on the flip side, this may lead to more self-sufficiency for them, by generating money to teach the people.”
Subsequently, Prof. De Graeve raised a number of interesting ideas that came up during the discussion:
• organizing a symposium on the relationship between ancient Chinese philosophy and modern trade;
• holding a separate conference exclusively for the business-oriented Confucius Institutes; and
• setting up technology-oriented Confucius Institutes, since economic development is driven by technological development. Learning Chinese to better understand Chinese technology.
Prof. De Graeve concluded as follows: “One coin, two sides: trade and culture. As the coin passes from hand to hand, so shall knowledge and understanding be passed on from person to person with the final purpose of achieving real peace. Let’s be open innovators!”
Yves Persoons
