A new Confucius Institute was inaugurated on Tuesday in Catolica university of Chile, the 320th of its kind in the world to spread the Chinese culture and language.

Xu Lin, director of the International Council of the Chinese Language and general secretary of the Confucius Institutes, said at the inauguration ceremony that her institution appreciated the collaboration from Catolica University of Chile and the University of Santo Tomas in Valparaiso city, where another Confucius Institute was founded.

Xu said Confucius Institutes have been established in 81 countries including Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica and Colombia, and the mission of these institutes is to "promote the Chinese culture and language so all the world knows them better."

According to Xu, there are some 40 million students learning Chinese outside China.

Carlos Willianson, temporary dean of Catolica University of Chile, said that an agreement was signed in August 2008 between the University and the Chinese embassy in Chile to fund the Confucius Institute, which also has collaboration with China's Nanjing University.

Willianson said that the Institution will develop lessons of Chinese language as well as activities to promote Chinese culture.

Willianson said that the institute was constituted in Catolica University "because the university, as part of an international project, is bent on knowing more about the Asian region." Till now, it has signed 23 collaboration agreements with Asian universities and six of them are with universities in China.

Chinese ambassador to Chile Liu Yuqin said that "I am convinced that with the support of Nanjing University, Catolica University will be a great platform to show Chinese culture to the Chilean people, mainly to the youth, to deepen mutual comprehension and knowledge between the Chinese and Chilean people."

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2009)