September 27th, Saturday, was the day when a celebration dedicated to the founding of Confucius institute worldwide – international Confucius institute day - was held at Vilnius M. Daukša middle school. The celebration also included the opening of Confucius class in M. Daukša middle school.
The first Confucius institute was found ten years ago, in 2004, Seul. There already are 443 active Confucius institutes in the world. Vilnius Confucius institute was found almost 4 years ago.
The celebration was held on Saturday, September 27th, at Vilnius M. Daukša middle school. Many people gathered to celebrate this event, among them – Vilnius City Mayor Artūras Zuokas, vice-minister Ministry of Education and Science Rimantas Vaitkus, the acting rector of the Vilnius University Jūras Banys, PRC ambassador in Lithuania J.E. Liu Zengwen, Liaoning University pro-rector prof. Xu Ping and other respectable guests.
The event started with acknowlegments to the important guests for their support and collaboration at launching the VU Confucius institute and also for their support for chinese culture spread in Lithuania. After that, the opening of Confucius class in M. Daukša school was celebrated – VU Confucius institute directors prof. Audrius Beinorius and prof. Zhang Donghui signed the agreement with M. Daukša school director R. Mikalauskienė. Later, the acting rector of the Vilnius University Jūras Banys, Vilnius City Mayor Artūras Zuokas and ambassador Liu Zengwen attended ribbon cutting ceremony concerning this opening. M. Daukša school students, already learning at the Confucius class, prepared a thank-you performance for the guests.
The famous ceramics master from China Jackson Li also visited the celebration – due to the VU Confucius institute initiated project „Meno gairės. Baltija – Kinija 2014“, which is located at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, the master was visiting Lithuania. Moreover, with the help of cultural intiative group „Kvadratas“, the ceramics workshop was organized at the celebration. The guests also could take a look at the ceramic works made at the art project workshop in Vilnius Academy of Arts.
VU Confucius institute and M. Daukša middle school have already been collaborating for a couple of years. The school, with the help of VU CI, provides chinese language, culture and art classes, organizes events related to the chinese culture. A volunteer teacher from China is going to teach the students. Hereby, an interest to the chinese culture will be efectively spread among young students and they will have a great opportunity to get known to China and its culture.