U.S. National Chinese Language Conference held in Houston

The 10th National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC) of the United States on Thursday kicked off in Houston, the largest city in the U.S. state of Texas, with the participation of about 1,300 teachers, administrators and policymakers from the nation and the world.

Co-organized by the College Board and Asia Society, the theme of this year's three-day conference is "A Decade of Progress," which recognizes both the 10-year anniversary of the conference and the tremendous growth of Chinese language and culture education in the United States over the past decade.

In a congratulatory message to the conference, Liu Yandong, China's Vice Premier and Chair of Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, said that this conference coincides with Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to the United States during which he meets with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

This meeting will chart the direction and open a new chapter for the future of China-U.S. relations, Liu said.

She spoke highly of Chinese language learning, saying that "language serves as a bridge connecting hearts. Language learning and cross-cultural exchanges bring significant meaning and far-reaching impact of enhancing mutually beneficial and comprehensive collaborations between China and the United States, as well as building a prosperous, well-being, and peaceful world."

"The National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC) is not merely an important platform for sharing the best practices in Chinese language teaching and learning from each other. More importantly, it is a highly recognized brand for China-U.S. public interactions and people-to-people exchanges," she said.

Liu added that "this year marks a milestone to carry forward the great achievement in 10 years, and pave the way ahead into the bright future."

Jing Wei, deputy director-general of Hanban and deputy chief executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters, told the conference that China and the United States have their merits in education, and that they can learn from each other and grow together.

"In education, the two countries can learn from each other and provide opportunities for more teachers and students to share the best practices, improve teaching methods and effectiveness," she said. "Learning each other's language will help enhance mutual respect, work for inclusive and mutual benefits, and minimize misunderstanding."

Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. president, also sent their congratulatory messages to the conference.

"Serving as one of our first envoys to the People's Republic of China in 1974, Barbara and I have a great appreciation of the critical importance of U.S.-Sino relations. Upon our arrival in Beijing, we also very quickly gathered an appreciation of the importance of speaking Mandarin," George H. W. Bush, the 41st U.S. president, said.

"Your mission of educating the next generation of global citizens as to the importance of speaking Mandarin in order to enhance our U.S. bilateral relations abroad is more important today than ever before," he said.

Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, said that this conference provides a high-profile platform for sharing new ideas and best practices in the fields of Chinese language teaching and learning, Chinese arts and culture and U.S.-China educational exchange.

As the largest annual gathering in the United States of teachers, administrators, and policymakers engaged in the teaching of Chinese language and culture, the NCLC is dedicated to enhancing the nation's capacity for the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture by sharing cutting-edge practices and examples with educators and policymakers.

Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC),Confucius Institute, a non-profit public educational organization affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education, is committed to promoting Chinese language and culture, supporting Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitating cultural exchanges.

The Confucius Institute program began in 2004 and is overseen by Hanban, officially the Office of Chinese Language Council International.

Currently, there are 513 Confucius Institutes and 1,074 Confucius Classrooms in 140 countries across the world. The United States enjoys 110 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius classrooms. Endi