Xu Lin, Director of the Office of Chinese Language Council International

    With the advent of the New Year, everything awakens to the feeling of the upcoming spring.

    On this festive occasion, I’d like to extend my sincere New Year greetings to all of our friends.

    Nowadays there is an increasing number of people beginning to learn Chinese. Accordingly, more and more people are enthusiastically engaged in teaching Chinese to overseas students. The Chinese language has become a bridge between peoples around the world.

    To help the Chinese learners abroad, over 120 Confucius Institutes have been set up. Greater effort is being made to meet the needs of the international students of Chinese.

    This endeavor is to facilitate Chinese learning and it brings enjoyment, quite unexpectedly, to us in the meantime. We have a perception, now stronger than ever, of the charm of the Chinese language, which is a medium for the brilliant, 5000-year-old culture of China.

    Chinese culture values harmony. Different cultures in the world, including Chinese culture, must maintain contact with and learn from each other to promote human progress, thereby ensuring lasting peace for the world as well as security and happiness for all people.

    Welcome to The World of Chinese, a window to the fascinating Chinese culture!