Time: April 18th, 2018
Source: Office of International Exchanges
Publisheer: News Center

A JNU delegation led by Xia Quan, deputy secretary of the Party committee, visited Portugal and Spain from April 9 to 15 to expand JNU's international partnerships and promote cultural communications with  academic institutions in the two countries. The delegation visited three top universities:  the University of Lisbon (UOL), Universidad Complutense (UCM) in Madrid and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).in Barcelona. It also visited the Madrid headquarters of Instituto Cervantes, founded by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Casa Asia in Barcelona; and Centro Cultural de Macau, established by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology.

The delegation arrived at Centro Cultural de Macau on April 9, receiving a friendly reception from its director, Prof. LuÍs Filipe Barreto. Xia elaborated on plans for future cooperation. The center held a launch ceremony for new books and documents, including Picture Album of Macau and Atlantic Islands; Studies of Macau: Exploration and Understanding; and Writings of Diego de Pantoja, SJ, edited by Ye Nong, dean of JNU's Department of Macau Studies.

(A symposium at the Scientific Technology and Cultural Center of Macau at UOL)

The JNU delegation visited UOL in Portugal and signed a cooperation agreement on April 10. Scholars from the two universities intend to found a Union of Humanities and Social Sciences with cooperation from Macau's universities for joint international conferences on topics of mutual interest. They also consulted on establishing Chinese and Portuguese as a second foreign language course in their respective schools, and agreed on teacher and student exchanges.

(Xia Quan and UOL Vice President João Barreiros)

Instituto Cervantes held the opening ceremony of the program Diego de Pantoja Year at the conference hall of its Madrid headquarters on April 11. In attendance were Lyu Fan, China's ambassador to Spain; Fernando García Casas, Spain's secretary of state; Juan Manuel Bonet, president of the institute; and Xia. A short   seminar was held during the ceremony. Ye Nong, Inma Gonzáles, president of the IC’s branch in Bejing, and Ignacio Ramos, who teaches at the Bejng Center for Chinese Studies, introduced Diego de Pantoja's experiences in China and the activities arranged for Diego de Pantoja Year. Xia represented JNU in presenting books to the representative of the king of Spain, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese Embassy to Spain and Instituto Cervantes.

(Prof. Ye Nong speaking at the opening ceremony)

Diego de Pantoja, born in 1571 in Valdemora, was the first Spaniard to travel to the Forbidden City and meet the Chinese emperor in the Ming Dynasty. He made great contributions to exchanges between China and the West and gave Europeans their first comprehensive and objective landscape of China.

JNU's delegates and Eugenio R Luján, dean of UCM's College of Liberal Arts, discussed details of teacher training and students' study in Spain as part of JNU’s newly established Spanish major on April 12. The two universities agreed to expand cooperation to teacher and student exchanges, scientific research and other aspects. The UCM delegates planned to visit JNU and sign the cooperation agreement in the near future.

JNU's delegates left for Barcelona, where they discussed cooperation details with UPF Deputy President Isabel Valverde and the principal of UPF’s College of Humanities on April 13. The universities plan to cooperate in joint cultivation, student exchanges, visiting scholars and other aspects.