Confucius Institute will deepen SA-China ties
HEADQUARTERED at UWC, the Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine (CICM) integrates traditional and modern Chinese medicine science with Chinese language teaching, to open a new window for South Africans to understand Chinese culture and build a new bridge for cooperation between China and Africa in the field of traditional medicine.
Launched this week as the first of its kind on the African continent, it was jointly established by UWC in Cape Town, Chinese Zhejing Normal University and Zhejing Chinese Medical University.
The Consul General of China, Lin Jing, said the institute integrated traditional and modern Chinese medicine science with Chinese language teaching. Lin said with the deepening friendship between China and South Africa, “time has ripened for the establishment of the Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine at UWC, which is luckily in our consular district”.
It is another important achievement of the cultural exchanges and practical co-operation between the two countries, and also the implementation of capacity building and people-to-people exchange in the “Eight Major Initiatives” proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) last year, Lin said.
UWC’s Rector Professor Tyrone Pretorius visited China late last year to sign the agreement that finalised the establishment of the CICM.
In the coming years, UWC will use this platform to work with Chinese
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We look forward to our countries working more closely together Professor Pamela Dube
UWC deputy vice-chancellor
universities in a range of areas and activities, including culture, language, Chinese medicine and academic research.
The CICM will help facilitate academic co-operation among the universities in South Africa and China.
One of the UWC’s goals as a research institution is creating networks of co-operation across the globe because the UWC believes collaboration and international mobility make science stronger, said UWC executive director for human resources Meko Magida.
“By removing geographical boundaries and learning from each other, we can tackle the biggest issues facing society today,” she said.
In addition to the CICM, South Africa is home to six Confucius Institutes and three Confucius Classrooms, the largest number in Africa.