Sino-France cultural, linguistic exchange symposium held in Beijing
A two-day symposium on Chinese and French linguistic exchange and cooperation concluded in Beijing on Tuesday.
Held under the theme of promoting the development of languages and protecting cultural diversity, the event attracted more than 200 officials, experts and scholars from China, France and other French-speaking countries and regions.
The symposium, which has been held twice before in 2012 and 2014, was jointly organized by the governments of China and France as part of the Sino-French high-level people-to-people exchange mechanism.
Du Zhanyuan, China’s deputy minister for education and director of the State Language Affairs Commission, said at the opening ceremony on Monday that officials and experts from China and France have built on the previous symposiums to reach more agreements and understand each other’s policies on language and culture more deeply.
Du said China, as a country with many different ethic groups, languages and dialects, has long placed great emphasis on popularizing Mandarin as the standard form of written and spoken Chinese.
At the same time, the Chinese government has also attached great importance to protecting the languages of ethnic groups, he said.
Du said both the Chinese and French civilizations have had a great impact on the world and the languages of these two countries have played key roles in boosting exchanges among different cultures.
“Deepening linguistic cooperation between China and France will strengthen the mutual understanding and trust among our peoples and contribute to better bilateral relations between us,” Du said.
An agreement on linguistic exchange and cooperation was signed during the symposium and an exhibition on the cultures and languages of China and France is ongoing at the Capital Museum in Beijing until the end of the week.
