Celebrating Dual Festivals in the Cloud- Mid-Autumn Festival and Teachers’ Day Online Meeting in Latvia in 2022
From 10:00-11:00 on September 8, 2022, Latvia time, Mid-Autumn Festival-Teachers’ Day Symposium in Latvia was successfully held on the Zoom cloud. The participants consists of Ambassador Liang Jianquan of the Chinese Embassy in Latvia, Chinese Director of Confucius Institute at University of Latvia Shang Quanyu, a state-sponsored Chinnese teacher Bai Bingyu, volunteer Chinese teachers Li Xin，Tang Jing and Liu Xian, and representatives of Chinese students in Lativa Yang Feng, Cen Zhihui, etc.
The meeting lasted for an hour and mainly focused on the cultural exchanges between China and Latvia in the new year and the expectations for Chinese teachers and students in Latvia from Chinese Embassy in Latvia. First of all, Ambassador Liang Jianquan delivered a speech, mentioning that in the past 10 years, the Confucius Institute has cultivated nearly 5,000 Chinese language lovers in a country with less than 2 million people, fully affirming the contributions that the teachers of the Confucius Institute have played in promoting Chinese language and culture, highly praising Shang Quanyu for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of China-Latvia friendship. Ambassador Liang also pointed out that under the difficult epidemic situation, the teachers of the Confucius Institute should take good care of personal protection and further promote cultural exchanges between the two countries; and emphasized that the embassy will always adhere to the concept of “people-oriented and friendly diplomacy”, and provide health and safety support to the Chinese people in Latvia and ensure that everyone can successfully complete their work and study tasks. During the question-and-answer session, Ambassador Liang answered the question from Bai Bingyu about whether traditional Chinese cultural activities would be held under the epidemic situation, saying that in strict compliance with the epidemic prevention policy, the embassy will properly carry out a series of Chinese activities. Ambassador Liang also answered Yang Feng’s question about visa issue in Latvia, saying that people coming to Latvia should go through visa and residence permit procedures in strict accordance with the visa application policy. Then, Shang Quanyu delivered a speech, reporting on the progress of the Confucius Institute teachers’arrival in this academic year and the development of Chinese classes at various teaching sites, and sincerely invited the participants to come to the University of Latvia at 5 pm on Tuesday, September 27th for “Mid-Autumn Festival – Confucius Institute Day Celebration” event to be organized by the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Alumni Association of Latvia. Finally, Bai Bingyu delivered a speech, summarizing the online teaching situation of the Confucius Institute in the past three years since the epidemic, and welcoming all volunteer teachers to return to the re-opened onsite Chinese teaching classes. At the end, Ambassador Liang congratulated all the teachers and volunteers of the Confucius Institute on the Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and the 38th Teacher’s Day, and encouraged everyone to work hard to promote Chinese language-culture and the development of China-Latvia friendship!
It is believed that this meeting will surely lay a solid foundation for the smooth development of the teaching tasks of Confucius Institute at University of Latvia in the new academic year, so that the teachers and students of the Confucius Institute can successfully complete their work and study tasks with the support from the embassy, and strengthen cultural cooperation and exchanges between China and Latvia!
拉脱维亚时间2022年9月8日10:00-11:00，拉脱维亚中秋节-教师节座谈会在Zoom云端顺利召开，与会人员有中国驻拉脱维亚大使馆梁建全大使，孔子学院院长尚劝余，公派教师白冰玉，汉语志愿者教师李欣、唐静、刘贤，留学生代表杨凤、岑智辉等。
会议持续一个小时，主要围绕新一年的中拉两国人文交流工作和大使馆对在拉华人师生的期许展开交流讨论。首先，中国驻拉脱维亚大使馆梁建全大使发表讲话，提到过去10年多，在不到200万人的拉国，孔子学院培养了将近5千名汉语爱好者，充分肯定了孔子学院教师们的文化传播工作，高度赞扬了孔子学院院长尚劝余为促进中拉友谊做出的杰出贡献。梁大使还指出，在艰难的疫情形势下，孔子学院教师们要做好个人防护，促进两国文化交流；并强调大使馆将始终坚持“以人为本，外交为谊”的理念，为在拉国的中华儿女提供健康与安全的支持和保障，保证大家顺利完成工作和学习任务。在提问环节，梁大使回答了公派教师白冰玉关于疫情形势下是否会举办相关中华传统文化活动的问题，表示在严格遵守防疫政策下，大使馆会适当开展系列中华活动；梁大使还回答了留学生代表杨凤关于办理签证的相关手续问题，指出赴拉人员要严格按照签证申请条约办理签证和居留证等手续。接着，孔子学院院长尚劝余发表讲话，汇报了本学年孔子学院教师到任进度和各个教学点的中文课开展情况，并诚挚邀请与会人员共赴9月27日星期二下午5点，拉脱维亚大学孔子学院和拉脱维亚留华同学会联合举办“中秋节-孔院日庆典”活动。最后，公派教师白冰玉发表讲话，总结了疫情三年来孔子学院线上授课的情况，并欢迎各位志愿者教师回归重新开启的线下中文教学课堂。线上座谈会最后，梁大使祝贺各位孔子学院教师志愿者中秋节快乐和第38届教师节快乐，鼓舞诸位为传播中华文化促进中拉友谊发展而努力！
相信本次座谈会的成功召开，必将为新学年拉脱维亚大学孔子学院教学任务的顺利开展打下坚实的基础，让孔院师生在大使馆的关心下顺利完成工作学习任务，加强中拉两国友谊友好发展，共促文化合作交流！
