From September 26 to October 2, Vice President Shao Qianjun was invited to lead the delegation to visit the Royal Music College of the Netherlands and the Northern Light Confucius Institute in Iceland.
During the delegation’s visit to the Royal Music College in the Netherlands, Vice President Martin Prchal, Head of the Classical Music Department Marlon Titre, et al. warmly received Shao Qianjun and his delegation. Vice President Shao Qianjun introduced the situation of Ningbo University in talent training, scientific research and internationalization. Martin Prchal made a detailed introduction about the characteristics of the school running. During the talks, the two sides discussed about the exchange of students, the exchange of faculty and the establishment of the language center and reached preliminary cooperation intention.
Accompanied by Martin Prchal, Vice President and Monica Damen, Director of the Department of Vocal Music, the delegation visited the piano, vocal music, comedy and other professional courses of Royal Music College in the Netherlands.
During the delegation’s visit to the Northern Light Confucius Institute, Professor Guðmundur Hálfdánarson, Dean of the School of Humanities of University of Iceland, Magnus Bjornsson, Foreign Director of Northern Light Confucius Institute, and Qi Huimin, Chinese Director of the Institute received Shao Qianjun and his delegation.
Guðmundur Hálfdánarson, Dean of the School of Humanities of University of Iceland, extended warm welcome to the delegation from Ningbo University and expressed sincere gratitude to Ningbo University for its support to the Confucius Institute. He pointed out that the University of Iceland greatly cherished the co-construction opportunity with Ningbo University, and hoped to strengthen cooperation and exchanges between the two sides in other fields in the future by continuously taking the Northern Light Confucius Institute as the platform. Shao Qianjun said that Ningbo University and the University of Iceland will regard the Confucius Institute as a platform to strengthen cooperation between the two schools in areas such as student exchange, exchange of faculty and scientific research cooperation. Subsequently, the two universities held the 2019 Council of Northern Light Confucius Institute in Iceland. Qi Huimin, the Chinese Director, reported the work of 2019. Magnus Bjornsson, the Foreign Director, gave a presentation on the financial work. Vice President, Shao Qianjun and Dean of School of Humanities, Guðmundur Hálfdánarson expressed full recognition for the work and achievements of the Confucius Institute. Mr. Guðmundur Hálfdánarson also warmly commended the development concepts and achievements made by the Confucius Institute which strive to integrate into the academic research fields of University of Iceland. After the meeting, Shao Qianjun visited the faculty and volunteers of the Confucius Institute.
On October 1, at the invitation of Jin Zhijian, Ambassador of the Chinese Embassy in Iceland, the delegation attended the reception celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and gathered together with more than 200 representatives of overseas Chinese and students in Iceland to jointly celebrate the 70th birthday of PRC. At the reception, President Shao, Ambassador Jin and the overseas Chinese watched the celebration meeting, President Xi’s important speech and the grand military parade, and sang “Ode to the Motherland” loudly with the overseas Chinese and students on site. CCTV reported on Iceland’s grand celebration for China’s National Day.
During the reception, Magnus Bjornsson, Foreign Director of the Confucius Institute in Iceland, as an excellent foreign director devoted himself to Iceland-China friendship, has an interview with CCTV. He pointed out that China’s rapid development is amazing and admirable as its national strength is growing day by day.
After the reception, the delegation from Ningbo University was invited to attend the ceremony of Lighting “Chinese Red” held by the Chinese Embassy in Iceland at Perlan, a famous cultural and tourist attraction in Iceland and watched the Chinese version of aurora film at the Dome Movie Hall of the Planetarium at the Perlan.
Related link: at present, there are 4 teaching points under the Confucius Institute with 601 students. Since 2016, the Confucius Institute has made innovations in teaching methods, and adopted the practical teaching method of chorus of Chinese songs in the women’s choir of the University of Iceland. This project has become the innovation project for application teaching of Chinese in the headquarters of Confucius Institute. The chorus performance of the Chinese songs of the Women’s Choir in Iceland has become a unique scene on Iceland’s literature and art stage. In 2019, Northern Light Confucius Institute held the Seminar on Chinese and Nordic Culture under the “Belt and Road” Initiative.
Relevant heads of the International office and School of Music visited with the delegation.
