Seychelles celebrates UN Chinese language day |26 April 2022

Chinese was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946. However, in the early years, Chinese was not commonly used in the work of the United Nations, but the situation improved after restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations in 1971.

In 1973, the general assembly included Chinese as a working language, which was followed by the security council in 1974. More and more United Nations (UN) offices and staff members use the Chinese language on the job.

Language days at the United Nations seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the organisation. Under the initiative, UN duty stations around the world celebrate six separate days, each dedicated to one of the organisation's six official languages.

In Seychelles, the Chinese Embassy and the Chinese Confucius Instituteorganised a host of activities last Friday at the Pagoda to celebrate Chinese language day.

To learn more about this day, Seychelles NATIONspoke toChinese Ambassador to Seychelles Guo Wei.

Seychelles NATION: Could you introduce to us the UN Chinese language day?

Ambassador Guo Wei: Chinese is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is the most spoken language in the world. Since 2010, the United Nations has designated ‘Chinese Language Day"’on “谷雨”(literally meaning grain rain), the 6th solar term of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, to commemorate the contribution of Cang Jie, the ancestor of Chinese characters.

This year on April 20 marked the 13th UN ‘Chinese language day’, with celebrations held all over the world. With the aim of promoting the Chinese language and culture, the Confucius Institute in Seychelles, in collaboration with the University of Seychelles (UniSey) and the Seychelles Tourism Academy organised a series of activities, among which the Tai-Chi training class.

Seychelles NATION: How many Seychellois have learned Chinese at the Confucius Institute?

Ambassador GUO Wei: Actually, the Confucius Institute of Seychelles has organised near 100 Chinese learning classes from 2014-2022. By 2020, about 1,940 Seychellois had learned Chinese at the Confucius Institute. The reason why more and more Seychellois are attracted by the Chinese language and decide to learn it is very clear.

Firstly, the language is a window to understand the real Chinese history, culture and its economic and social development.

Secondly, with the rapid development of its economy, China is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. Many Seychellois have seen the potential and the opportunity. They think the Chinese language is a very useful tool and can facilitate communication with Chinese when doing business or in any other fields.

With the increase of China's comprehensive national strength, the upsurge of learning Chinese also continues to heat up around the world. According to statistics, there are more than 25 million foreigners currently learning Chinese and cumulatively almost 200 million foreigners have learned the language. As of 2021, more than 1,500 Confucius institutes and Confucius classrooms had been established in 159 countries. Moreover, over 180 countries have conducted Chinese-language teaching programmes and 75 countries have incorporated the language into their national education system. In 2021, the Chinese language was adopted as one of the official languages of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

Seychelles NATION:Could you tell us more about the Tai-Chi training class?

Ambassador GUO Wei: The Tai-Chi training class is jointly organised by the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Association of Seychelles (Cas). The Cas has a very long history and made great efforts to the construction of the Pagoda (Chinese cultural centre). In fact, the Chinese in Seychelles are well integrated into the local society, but still they pay close attention to their homeland’s development and have strong emotional attachments to Chinese culture and history. On the occasion of the completion of the Pagoda, the Cas and the Confucius Institute decided to use this Chinese architecture as a platform to demonstrate Chinese traditional culture and organise the Tai-Chi training class.

Tai-Chi is one of the many branches of Chinese martial arts. It originates in Ancient China and is a time-proven health art that uses circular, flowing movements to calm the mind and relax the body. Behind the gentle movements is a wealth of philosophy, medicine and science. Internally, the soft, smooth movements improve blood circulation. Externally, the joints, tendons, and muscles are loosened and gradually strengthened. It is about balance and harmony. In recent years, Tai-Chi has become a well-known physical exercise worldwide.

Seychelles NATION:What is the core of the Chinese culture?

Ambassador GUO Wei: The Chinese culture contains three relations that are from men's relations with nature, to relations amongst human beings, and to that between the individuals and society. The Chinese traditional culture is a fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. It holds dear harmony and unity, harmony being the most valuable and harmony without uniformity, follow the trend of the times featuring peace, development and win-win cooperation. The Chinese nation, with 5,000 years of civilisation, has always cherished peace. The pursuit of peace, amity and harmony is an integral part of the Chinese character which runs deep in the blood of the Chinese people. From the ‘Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence’ and ‘seeking common ground while reserving differences’ of former leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, to the ‘Never seeking hegemony’ of former leader Deng Xiaoping, and to the ‘Community with a shared future for mankind’ proposed by President Xi Jinping, all reflect the Chinese people's willingness to live in harmony with people from all over the world. China will continue to remain committed to promoting peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, to an independent foreign policy of peace, and to the path of peaceful development. We will work to build a human community with a shared future and use China’s new achievements in development to provide the world with new opportunities.

Our photographer Thomas Meriton captured some of the moments at the celebration last Friday, with Ambassador Guo Wei addressing those who had gathered to learn Tai Chi and the Chinese language.

Compiled by Vidya Gappy