Al Azhar, October 17th--A delegation consisting of Hao Ping, Vice Minister of Education; Wang Yongli, Deputy Director of Hanban and Deputy General Director of the Confucius Institute Headquarters; Liu Baoli, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at the Ministry of Education; Shi Pengjian, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education; and Ke Chunhui, Deputy Inspector from the Department of Policy and Regulations, paid a visit to the Pusat Bahasa Mandarin at University of Al Azhar in the morning. On the same day, Vice Minister Hao Ping held discussions with leaders from the Al-Azhar University Foundation and the University. He also inspected the work of the Confucius Institute and had cordial talks with its volunteer Chinese teachers.

During the meeting with the leaders of the Al-Azhar University Foundation and the University, Vice Minister Hao Ping fully affirmed the achievements of Fujian Normal University and the University of Al-Azhar in jointly establishing the Confucius Institute, and expressed his hope to see further cultural cooperation and exchanges between the two sides.

Afterward, Vice Minister Hao Ping led his delegation to visit the teaching site for the Institute's exclusive use which was donated by Huang Shuang'an, a prominent leader in the overseas Chinese community in Indonesia. After visiting an exhibition demonstrating the Institute's educational achievements, Hao Ping expressed his admiration for the Institute in accomplishing such remarkable achievements in less than one year. Hao and his delegation also watched one of the Institute's lessons, and visited its offices and Chinese cultural reading room. He enjoyed seal cutting works by the Institute's students, and gave high praise to the students who completed the works in just two days. He also gave his autograph to the Institute as a memento.

Finally, Vice Minister Hao Ping had cordial talks with the Institute's volunteer teachers. He inquired about their work and life in Indonesia and thanked them for what they have done. He also encouraged them to keep on working hard and make new contributions to the development of Chinese education in Indonesia and the cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Group photo of Vice Minister Hao Ping with school leaders of the University of Al-Azhar and members of the Confucius Institute chorus

Group photo of Vice Minister Hao Ping with the Institute's volunteer teachers