Yesterday, I watched the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games. I felt extremely excited. When one person lives in another country and different environment and sees his motherland from another perspective, suddenly, he feels a strong affinity to his country. The opening ceremony for the Olympic Games let me see and feel the affection of our Chinese people as well. The splendid and rich Chinese culture demonstrated in the opening ceremony is a vivid expressing of our Chinese people’ longing for the prosperity of our motherland.

My companions and I can not help but clap our hands and cheer. A picture of three-thousand years of Chinese culture demonstrated in front of the world through the high-tech animation and manual work is definitely the best publicity method that could be employed by the Chinese people. Therefore, we say the Olympic Games services as a window which enables people around the world to have a better understanding about China and Chinese culture, thus realizing mutual understanding among peoples of different countries and to cooperatively establish a harmonious world.

When he heard the song of “singing for my country” sang by a pretty little girl, one of my friend shed tears and choked with sobs: “I miss my motherland”, “I miss my hometown”. A touch of sorrow and joy wafted through the air, making me feel a strong nostalgia. 

As one Chinese language teacher from Wuhan University dispatched by Hanban to work in the Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, I deeply felt the importance of promoting Chinese. This year, hanban dispatched eight Chinese language teachers and volunteers to Pittsburgh, plus the two still working there, there are ten Chinese language teachers now working in the city. The Olympic Games service as a window for China to propagate Chinese culture. We will take this opportunity to compete with other athletes, learn from each other, make friends with each other and create a harmonious world. Overseas Confucius Institutes are small windows, scattered around every corner of the world. Chinese language teachers and volunteer teachers work diligently with their wisdom, patience and responsibility, and exert effort on spreading the seeds of Chinese culture and help locals understand China and finally fall in love with China.

(Contributed by Ruan Guijun from the Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, August 8, 2008)