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Sept. 28 of this year marks the
10th anniversary of the
Confucius Institutes established in the
world by the
Chinese authorities.
However, a few days ago, the
University of Chicago
announced it would sever its ties
with the
Institute supported by
Beijing.
As the
Chinese Communist Party (
CCP) overseas
"cultural outpost",
the
Confucius Institute seems to be less successful at having
overseas universities open armed and welcoming,
as they have been in the past.
As one of the representatives of traditional
Chinese culture,
Confucius moral teachings have been well rooted
within
China’s true heritage for over two thousand years.
Since 1949, the CCP have always slandered and criticised
Confucius and Confucianism.
However, things changed dramatically 10 years ago,
as CCP changed its attitude towards Confucius.
Since then, the CCP has established 465 Confucius Institutes
and 713 Confucius classrooms in
123 countries worldwide.
The Chinese authorities have made detailed preparations
for the 10th anniversary celebrations
of overseas Confucius Institutes,
even setting a date Sept. 27 as "Confucius Institute Day".
However, on Sept. 25, University of Chicago broadcast
a statement on its website,
which can best be described
as antipathetic with the "festive"
atmosphere which the CCP has tried to create for the
Confucius Institute.
The statement says, the University of Chicago and CCP
official institution - Hanban,
have been trying to negotiate terms these past few months
on finding a new agreement.
A recent report however, quoted the speech given
by Director-General of Hanban, did not meet
the desired requirements of a continued equality partnership.
Hence the
University decided to terminate their negotiations
upon expiry of the contract.
So which news report did the article come from?
Shanghai CCP’s "
Liberation Daily" published an article
on Sept. 19, which details
an exclusive interview with
Xu Lin,
Director of Hanban
and the Director-General of the Confucius Institute.
At the end of the article it said, "This year, in late April,
a hundred emeritus professors of University of Chicago
signed up for the closure of Confucius Institute at the University.
Xu Lin decided to directly write a letter to the
President
of University of Chicago, and give a phone call
to the representative of University in Beijing.
All of these were just to convey one simple message
'If your University decided to quit the
College, I agree'."
The report says that the University of Chicago
decided to continue to run Confucius College.
Xu Lin’s statement "one phone call can change the decision
of the University of Chicago", its significant discrepancy
with the express declaration of the University.
This is also consistent with one key reason
that more than
100 professors jointly appealed
to stop the operation of the Confucius Institute
in April of this year.
These professors expressed concern
of the "academic freedom"
and the intervention of the CCP.
Some faculty staff said that the teaching materials
of the Confucius Institute are required not
to involve
Taiwan,
Tibet and
Falun Gong.
American Chinese magazine "
China Affairs"
Chief Editor
Mr Wu Fan:
"
American professors do not welcome it
because the Institute is completely contrary to
the principles of American Professors
governing the University and promoting academic freedom.
Such an incident happened not once, but has also occurred
in
Canada,
Los Angeles and
Chicago.
They all raised this issue to Hanban, but Hanban are
unwilling to change,
wanting to still keep things the same way,
they then have to let the Confucius Institute go."
Since the Confucius Institute offered
American universities
lots of money as an incentive, many voices are
worried that these gifts have strings attached.
Chinese historian Li
Yuanhua: "
In the West, Sinology
( network attached storage co.)belongs to an edge of discipline,
is facing a real financial problems.
The CCP saw this, and employed economic temptation
as a means to develop Confucius Institutes
with some
Western Sinology research institutions.
All in the name of cooperation and assistance,
the CCP tried to achieve containment, thus controlling
the direction of overseas
Chinese studies, and in fact the CCP’s
purpose is very vicious."
In addition, according to
Hong Kong’s "
Ming Pao",
a few months ago, a person who is familiar
with the operation of the Confucius Institute
has revealed that due to being funded by the government,
some overseas Confucius Institutes even
become official reception centres.
Wu Fan: "Some people suspect that the Institute is
an intelligence agency, which sent out staff from China,
《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点
http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/
- published: 30 Sep 2014
- views: 577