By Editorial Team
Educational specialists headed by, Undersecretary Dr. Kuyok Abok Kuyok from the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, together with His Excellency Chinese Ambassador Ma Qiang and His colleague diplomats from the Chinese Embassy, and representatives from SPLM National Youth League Club witnessed the celebration of the International Chinese Language Day on the 20th April 2023 at the Chinese Language Learning Centre in Juba Day Secondary School.
The Chinese Language Learning Centre is part of the China-Aided Phase II Technical Cooperation Project of Education in South Sudan. It was opened in August of 2021 and has been in full operation to facilitate the delivery of Chinese language teaching and a variety of cultural exchanges programmes.
20th of April is also one of the twenty-four solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar – “Grain Rain”. It is of special significance that we gather here in this classroom to celebrate the “United Nations Chinese Language Day”. According to legend, more than 5,000 years ago, a Chinese historian named Cang Jie created the most primitive hieroglyphs, thus opening a new chapter in Chinese culture. In order to reward him for his feat, God granted him his request to “let the world’s grains prosper” and rained down a heavy rain of grains, hence the name “Grain Rain”. This day was also selected as “United Nations Chinese Language Day” in 2010.
The celebration started with the sincere gratitude expressed by the Headteacher of Juba Day Secondary School, Mr. George Kenyi, who has been a key witness and a major supervisor for the operation of the Centre. He shared that it has been a wonderful opportunity for the South Sudanese citizens to participate and experience a different culture. He added that this experience could assist the learners to straight up the sense of professionalism in learning and career. The two instructors of the Centre, Mr. Zhao Yongqiang and Mr. Cheng Feng jointly designed a series of shows performed by the South Sudanese learners. They showed great passion sharing their two-year journey of cultural exchanges with the South Sudanese learners. “It has been a great pleasure for us to participate in the programme. We wish that all the learners in the centre will develop themselves in the best way and develop their learning and career with the knowledge acquired.”
