TWELVE Bahamians are heading to China this summer to study at the Nanjing University after receiving scholarships from the Chinese Embassy. The delegates, who are learning Mandarin at the Confucius Institute, will attend a 19-day Chinese language and cultural programme.
The aim of the institute - which has 140 branches worldwide - is to promote the Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and to facilitate cultural exchanges.
During a recent ceremony at the College of The Bahamas (COB) Harry C Moore Library, officials from the institute and the Chinese Embassy touted the benefits of studying in China. They also premiered a documentary – produced by The Counsellors Ltd – which focuses on the importance of exposing students to different languages and cultures around the world.
“This is truly wonderful work and we are so grateful to our Chinese partners for making the trip of the Bahamian delegation possible. This opportunity removes cultural and communication barriers that once separated us,” said Chairman of COB’s Council, Alfred Sears.
The summer programme will consist of complete immersion in the language as well as cultural education via classes and tours of three provinces in east China.
Chinese Embassy Counsellor, Lin Xianjiang, congratulated each of the delegates, noting that the Confucius Institute has played a “very important role” in the cultural and language exchange between The Bahamas and China.
Teshar Johnson, a COB student majoring in Mandarin and Finance, was the top winner of the Chinese Embassy scholarship.
Ms Johnson said she hopes to one day become an ambassador for The Bahamas and assist with foreign language translation. She said she felt “honoured and privileged” to receive a scholarship to study in China.
“A lot of people put forth the effort, but when you’re able to see and realise [it] in the form of a scholarship it validates what you want to do with your life. I pushed to go to China since high school. I had to stop my schooling for financial and personal reasons and this scholarship came in the form of a blessing. I am thankful to the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Government for giving me the opportunity,” she said.
Comments
jusscoolin 10 years, 4 months ago
This here is a very serious and blinding situation of what China really expects from our Bahama Land. China has continued to bare gifts, gifts will no doubt later come at a cost. China has seen what the Bahamas has to offer, riches in both our land and sea,while we Bahamian's are blind in the fact. Chairman of COB’s Council, Alfred Sears,Teshar Johnson and others in this article is unaware of the deep dark pit that they are placing themselves in. Point in fact . More than 90 percent of the population of the Bahamas professes a religion,mostly Christianity. Reports by the Gospel herald .com .In 2014 alone, 360 church buildings have been destroyed, China Aid reports. According to the ICC, more than 100 churches have been demolished or targeted over the past two months, and nearly 340 crosses have been destroyed. ( http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/51… ) How powerful china really is. Well videos of these actions were posted on the Internet and all was quickly removed. Is this really the people we wanna be associated with . Let us Bahamas be not as the city of Troy. In Greek legend Troy was taken by the Greek gift of a wooden horse,well we all know what was in that wooden horse. Yes, there are many Christians in China and the amount continues to grow.But while the Chinese government is open to Christianity, it also “wants to control Christianity. Says Dr. William Jeynes, senior fellow of The Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J .There are an estimated 100 million Christians in China, about 75 million of whom are in the “underground” church, said Jeynes, and the number of believers is growing by six to seven million a year.The professor of education at California State University in Long Beach also spent time talking about arrests and persecution of house church Christians in China. He ascribed the crackdown to China being nervous about Christianity and its potential threat to the government’s power.(http://christiantoday.com.au/article/chinese-government-attributes-western-success-to-christianity/11081.htm). Bahamian people lets be wise about this. Are we digging our own graves here!
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