On the afternoon of April 19, 2008, Chinese ambassador Zhang Yuanyuan took an inspection tour of the Confucius Institute in Auckland, New Zealand。The ambassador has always been deeply interested in the Confucius Institute and thinks highly of its work. The president of the Confucius Institute, Mr. Yao Zaiyu along with Vice-President Mr. Zhou Bing respectively reported to the ambassador on the present work of the Confucius Institute. Their reports focused mainly on a series of activities that they had organized for the welcoming of the Olympics Games. Also, they discussed the cooperation between the Confucius Institute and the New Zealand Chinese Fund for the promotion of Chinese teaching in elementary and middle schools. In addition, they also reported on their long-term plans for promoting Chinese language and culture in New Zealand。         

Ambassador Zhang started off by fully affirming the Confucius Institute’s work, sharing three points that he hopes the Confucius Institute will carry out in their work: first, the ambassador hopes that while teaching and promoting language, the Confucius Institute will also stress the introduction and teaching of Chinese history, culture and the present situation of China. He hopes the Confucius Institute can deepen the mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and New Zealanders. Second, he hopes the Confucius Institute will grasp every beneficial opportunity to develop its work. For instance, most countries hope China will organized a successful Olympic Games; the Confucius Institute can play a positive role in this regard。 Apart from the Olympic Games, the Sino- New Zealand Free-Trade Agreement, the 60th anniversary of the P.R.C and World Expo Shanghai 2010 are all exceptional opportunities for expanding the work of the Confucius Institute. Thirdly, the Confucius Institute should actively broaden its funding sources as well as seek more support from enterprises and society at large, seeking to become a bridge in the field of education, culture and commerce between China and New Zealand. Ambassador Zhang Yuanyuan also promised that the embassy will fully support the “Olympic Poster Painting Contest” organized by the Confucius Institute as well as provide Olympic souvenirs as prizes for the contest. Finally, ambassador Zhang set up a “wandering trophy” for the 3 respective groups in the “National Chinese Composition Contest” organized by Confucius Institute every year in the name of Chinese ambassador. The trophy goes by the title, “The Chinese Ambassador’s Cup”.