On 4 September 2024, Peter Riedler, President of University of Graz and his delegation visited Chinese International Education Foundation and Zhao Lingshan, Vice President and Secretary General of the Foundation, met with the delegation.
Peter Riedler firstly introduced the Symphony Orchestra of University of Graz's current tour to China. He said that the university attaches great importance to international exchanges in the field of culture and this time the orchestra not only cooperated with the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe to interpret the classic Chinese Kun Opera through symphonic music in an innovative way, but also exchanged ideas and opinions with performers from China on the same stage, which vividly interpreted that culture is enriched by exchanges and is wonderful due to mutual learning. He hoped that more exchanges in the cultural and academic fields will be carried out in the future with the support of CIEF and East China Normal University. In addition, the university will further explore expanding cooperation in the field of vocational education and take the construction of Confucius Institute's digital intelligence as the future development direction.
Austrian Director Chen Wanjie introduced the Confucius Institute at the University of Graz and gave a detailed report on the situation concerning the hope of applying for the establishment of an affiliated Confucius Classroom.
Zhao Lingshan expressed his warm welcome to the delegation for visiting CIEF for the first time and leading the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Graz to perform in Beijing, and highly appreciated the efforts and achievements made by the University of Graz and the East China Normal University to jointly run the Confucius Institute. He said that CIEF will continue to support the development of Confucius Institutes together with partners at home and abroad, and wished the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Graz a complete success in its concert.
