On the evening of January 6, 2022, Wenzhou University “Chinese Bridge” online camp—“Gathering Online in Wenzhou, Appreciating Chinese Culture” was opened. This online camp sponsored by Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Education was the second online “Chinese Bridge” program that we have held. This time there are over a thousand of students all over the world that are going to have an online studying journey with teachers from College of International Education(CIE).
Wang Shun, Vice president of Wenzhou University(WZU), delivered a speech at the beginning of the ceremony. On behalf of WZU, he extended warm welcome to students and teachers participated in this “Chinese Bridge” online camp. He introduced the history of teaching development and the internationalization of WZU. He pointed out that WZU had inherited rich Chinese culture, and is good at spreading the culture. Besides WZU has rich experience in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages as well as in international education, therefore, this online camp will open a door for the participants of exploring Chinese culture and gaining a deeper understanding of the profound and excellent Chinese culture. Wang hoped that the participants would become messengers of friendship and cultural communication between China and the rest of the world.
Then Ye Miao, Dean of CIE, thanked all the faculties and volunteers worked for this online camp for their strong support. She stressed that with a strong teaching team, CIE is qualified to cultivate excellent international students with global vision and a sentiment for China. She hoped that this online camp could serve as a platform offering courses on Chinese language and culture enabling the participants all over the world to obtain a deeper understanding of China. And she invited the participants to WZU when we win the battle against the pandemic.
Trần Thị Ngọc Ánh, an international student studying at WZU from Vietnam, shared a short video in the theme of “My Life in Wenzhou” with the participants. In the video, she talked in Vietnamese about her study and life in Wenzhou, as well as the knowledge and friendship she gained here. She hoped that in the future the participants would fall in love with WZU, Wenzhou and China as well just like she did.
At the opening ceremony, the participants appreciated some outstanding works of WZU international students. What came first was a Hainan folk song called “Long time no see, so hope to see you for a long time” by WZU international student choir. Second was the short video “I and Poetic Zhejiang”, which had won a special prize in the short video competition for international students. And third was a video of international student Catherine Chen practicing Ou opera.
In the end, member photos of the teaching team were showed up one after one, with some wonderful moments of the last “Chinese Bridge” online camp.
The 13-day online camp offers two level course programs—one for beginners and the other for advanced students—in accordance with the students' Chinese ability. Courses in the two programs covering knowledge of Chinese language and culture, which will be delivered though livestreaming and recorded videos. In the hope of building a better relationship between teachers and students, teachers of CIE have already started their communication with the participants a month in advance. They organized online meetings with the participants and got to know what the participants want to learn in this online camp. Therefore, the participants all have made their own learning plans and look forward to this online camp.
