Agenda set for fresh challenges
Beijing Foreign Studies University celebrates 80th anniversary as proud history of outstanding academic achievement provides foundation for future success, Cheng Yuezhu reports.
Yang says that the university has the tradition and strength for engaging in international communication and telling the stories of China, particularly focusing on the three aspects of traditional China, contemporary China and the current affairs and politics of China.
When telling China's stories to an international audience, it is important to tell them using the mother tongue of the audience, according to Yang. He says, quoting Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
The university has been engaging in the training of Sinologists for over 10 years, and has set up a training base for Sinologists, as well as 23 Confucius Institutes and Confucius classes in 18 countries.
It has also published a multilingual book series on introducing China, and another on the key concepts in Chinese thought and culture, containing more than 900 concepts in Chinese philosophy, history and art in 17 languages.
"Internationalism is the distinctive feature of our education," Yang says. "It is also a sense of mission for our university, to be rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese culture, to make good use of our advantage in languages, and to tell the stories of China well and make the voice of China heard, in order to present a true, multidimensional and panoramic view of China."
According to Yang, internationalization continues to be among BFSU's key strategies during China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), but instead of simply following the example of Western universities, the institution intends to create its own path, applicable in a local context.
"The essence of internationalization is to find the power of transcendence from differences," Yang says.
Wang Dinghua, the university's Party secretary, says: "It is an important issue faced by foreign studies universities to accelerate the training of global governance talent, especially high-caliber talent adapted to the needs of international organizations. We want our students to become confident, composed and dynamic figures in the international arena."
