International Chinese Language Day celebrated across Pakistan

Gwadar Pro

Islamabad: The International Chinese Language Day was celebrated across Pakistan over the weekend as more and more Pakistanis enrol to learn one of the most popular languages in the world.

Pakistanis are also interested in the Chinese language due to the massive investments by China in Pakistan, mainly under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This year, the International Chinese Language Day was celebrated in Pakistan under the theme “Chinese Language: Facilitating Dialogues across Civilizations”.

The China-funded Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms across Pakistan held a series of activities, providing a language and culture feast for language lovers.

In Pakistan there are five major Confucius schools operating including the ones in National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Islamabad, University of Sargodha, University of Punjab, University of Agriculture and University of Karachi. More than 30, 000 students in these institutes are learning the Chinese language.

The Chinese language is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is the language of the second-largest economy in the world. Therefore, many people from developing countries are learning this language.

This language has a very rich heritage that has existed in the world for thousands of years.

Chinese is one of the official languages of the United Nations. To give honor to this language, the UN observes Chinese language day every year on April 20. Initially, it was celebrated in 2010 to boost multilingualism and cultural diversity. Moreover, the United Nation wanted to promote the equal use of all of its six official languages which are English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

The first UN Chinese language day was celebrated on November 12, 2010. However, in 2011, the date was changed to April 20.

The Chinese language became the official language of the United Nations in 1946? Before this time, the Chinese language was not much used in the chores of the UN.

People started using this language when lawful rights were given to the People of the Republic of China in 1971 by the United Nations.

In 1973, the UN general assembly considered Chinese a working language, and in 1974, the UN council followed the same. At present, Chinese is spoken in all of the offices of the UN.

The UN and its organization celebrate Chinese language day by organizing different events.

In these events, they throw light on the rich heritage and history of this amazing language.

Seminars and workshops are also conducted to give honor to famous Chinese authors, poets, and calligraphers. In addition, calligraphy exhibitions and music concerts are organized around the globe.