“China has for many years offered scholarships to excellent Albanian students studying in China. I hope that more young Chinese and Albanians can pay attention to each other and become missionaries for the friendly exchange between China and Albania,” has said Ambassador Zhou Ding.
Ambassador Zhou made that comment at the Ambassador Scholarship award ceremony during which the Chinese diplomatic representative in Albania distributed certificates and awards to 30 excellent Albanian students on April 26 at the premises of the Chinese Embassy in Tirana.
Scholarship winners were selected by the Confucius Institute of the University of Tirana, Epoka University, the Polytechnic University of Tirana and other secondary and primary schools where Chinese is taught.
In his keynote address, Ambassador Zhou noted that foreign language is the bridge to another world. Through the Chinese language thanks to which students can get to know the ancient but also modern eastern country, they can perceive the eastern culture that is diverse, inclusive and full of vitality, and thus can better understand the diversity of world civilizations.
“In the face of major challenges such as pandemics, economic recovery, climate change, etc., China proposes building a Community with a Common Future for Humanity and a Community of Life for Man and Nature,” Zhou said. According to him, people must be committed to the harmony between man and nature, to green development, to a people-centered approach and to multilateralism. “These concepts are inspired by China’s development practice and have their origins in the centuries-old Chinese cultural tradition.”
Speaking on Sino- Albanian traditional links, Beijing’s top diplomat to Tirana said that friendship was early. “In the 1960s and 1970s, China offered a significant amount of assistance to Albania, making a major contribution to its economic development. Even in recent years, China has always remained Albania’s main trading partner,” he said.
Referring to the pandemic in Albania, China was among the first countries to offer medical materials such as test kits etc. In the meantime, educational cooperation and exchange between the youth of China and Albania are more and more active, with the increase of academic cooperation between the universities of the two countries, the Ambassador noted.
“I hope that more young Chinese and Albanians can pay attention to each other and become missionaries for the friendly exchange between China and Albania. Albania has great development opportunities. I also hope that the cooperation between our two countries will continue to deepen further, bringing more benefits to the two peoples,” said Ambassador Zhou.
While, Kris from the Confucius Institute of the University of Tirana, expressed gratitude to the embassy for this scholarship dedicated to Albanian youth. He shared his childhood life in China with his parents, especially experiences of Chinese culture, history, development achievements, cuisine, beautiful scenery of China as well as experiences in learning Chinese. In his remarks, Kris expressed readiness to inherit the traditional friendship between the two peoples and study again in China. Scholarship winner Jessica Gerby in a costume of the Han dynasty of ancient China performed a dance displaying the special traditional Chinese beauty of the dance, costumes and music at the ceremony. /argumentum.al
