Confucius Institute Jointly Established by CCNU and the University of Kansas Wins the "Confucius Institute Pioneer Award"

BY CHEN HANLU, GAO JINCHEN AND HAN BONING
On December 7th,?the opening ceremony of the 9th Confucius Institute Conference was held in Xiamen, China. Madam Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of P. R. China and Chair of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech entitled "Towards a New Decade of Confucius Institutes". Mr. Wang Enke, Vice President of CCNU, attended the conference. Wang met with Dr. E. Nathan Thomas, Vice Provost of the University of Kansas (KU), together with the expatriate staff of CCNU and the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute. Delegates from KU will visit CCNU next March for deeper cooperation.
The year of 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of the Confucius Institute.?A special award, "Confucius Institute Pioneer Award", is set up to honor ten?Confucius?Institutes that?have made outstanding contributions. The Confucius Institute jointly established by CCNU and KU won the award.
It is the very first time that the Confucius Institute Conference is held outside Beijing. Up till now, CCNU has established four Confucius Institutes abroad.