The world will need to speak with China
JAMAICA — that island whose edge kisses the Caribbean Sea beneath warm, open skies — nestles a prestigious institution, the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona. From here men and women have gone on, out and up into the world to shape, mould and guide. It was fitting, therefore, that she should be chosen to accommodate the Confucius Institute, that fledgling creature which, with infant feet, is seeking to trudge an ambitious path in the modern world.
Jamaica and China are new and old, alike and different, intersected at strange angles, intertwined somewhere in recent memory, have known each other yet never met.
It was during an annual summit in December 2008, hosted by Hanban (Office of Chinese Language Council International) in Beijing, that I first had wind of a soon-to-be established Confucius Institute in Jamaica. In February 2009, vice-president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, handed over the Confucius Institute to Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI Gordon Shirley, during an official visit to Jamaica.
This act sought to further posit the (UWI) as a light that shall continue to rise in the West. Immediately the Confucius Institute fell under the Department of Modern Languages, Faculty of Humanities and Education, and is the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean.
It was also during this occasion that I was invited by the UWI, in my capacity as one who had seen and touched a bit of China, to deliver the inaugural lecture. The title of my address was “From Jamaica to China – Language, Learning and the Future”. I said, among other things, that:
“China has emerged as a major player on the international stage, articulating in a language that has, as its main focus, harmony, peaceful development and friendliness with other nations. As in traditional thought, man has again achieved centrality of focus. This is commendable, and can stand as a living example to other nations… we in the African Diaspora know only too well what the opposite of such an approach can mean.
“Centuries before this, while the days of the Chinese Empire were waning, with the Qing Dynasty returning slowly into dust, this same China added to our ‘mosaic identity’. Then, Emperor Xian Feng ruled from his Dragon Throne. In the fourth year of his rule, in 1854, the first set of Chinese immigrants made their journey across the seas to Jamaica, as indentured labourers.
“With the establishment of this institute, Jamaicans will be able to have a window, possibly a threshold on China, through study of her language. For through language we may enter into the cultural space of another, communicate, and achieve deeper mutual respect and understanding.
“While I am unable to tell you what the future holds, yet it is possible to know something about the shape of this future. I envision a future in which the world will need to speak with China, and will speak more with China. China, it seems to me, is all too eager for this dialogue, as she continues to create a foundation for such. We must grasp these opportunities, for within lie both knowledge and wealth.
“Among the ancient cultures of the world, China is the only one that has persisted, unbroken, to the present day. She has a mighty tale to which we may harken: the togetherness of her people, the work ethic of her people, the willingness of her people to contribute towards common development, the love of art and beauty, the indomitable spirit of the Foolish Old Man, the love of life and laughter, the willingness to explore unknown territories, the enduring of hardships for the attainment of personal and common goals, the reaffirmation of the importance that the thoughts of Confucius and other philosophers have had in development, are all affirmative qualities to which we may aspire, and which we may emulate.
Protect the guardians of our creative heritage
“The future calls for self-knowledge. It calls for respect and dispassionate thought. More than ever, for countries such as Jamaica it calls for education and the…nourishing of our young minds. In this day no nation should raise up an illiterate mass with the excuse of penury; for this mass we raise up unto the nation, upon which it shall be a burden and in whose service it will be impotent.
“There are no experts on the future, for we have not yet experienced it. All experts are ‘experts of experience’. Yet insightful ‘experts of experience’ know only too well that the branches of the future grow out from the roots of the past. We will therefore have to, not discard memory, but embrace it. The name of this embrace shall be called dream. For, while memory is important, to dream is more virile. There was never an achievement that did not first exist in a state of dream.
“We must, therefore, in coming days craft our individual language in such a way that it becomes the fertile ground from which dreams spring. Our language shall shape our dreams, and our dreams shall shape our future. In this we will have to protect those who are guardians of our creative heritage — our artists, writers, poets, dancers, musicians and storytellers. For while political leaders may govern to order society, these people are the real guardians of our culture. It is from them that language springs as a fountain, eternal, watering our thirsty and parching presence. We ought to protect and embrace them, for in so doing we embrace our languages, our dreams, and our future.”
A marathon in the heat of midday
All of a sudden, my status metamorphosed from that of a comfortable spectator at the boundaries, to one intimately bound up in the inner dynamics of this institution. For on August 1, 2010, I assumed its directorship.
The mandate of the Confucius Institute worldwide is to encourage dissemination and learning of the Chinese language and culture among foreigners. At the UWI, the Confucius Institute enjoys full support from university officials, poised as it is, filled with seed and longing, possessed with potential to grow and blossom into something lasting and viable. It is in this wise that we acknowledge that this undertaking shall be no midnight sprint, but a marathon in the heat of midday.
At the outset, the short-term goals of our Confucius Institute are to teach Chinese language (Mandarin), to engage in the study of Chinese calligraphy, Tai Chi, and to host a film of the month series, in which we look at films/documentaries relevant to China. Language classes have already begun with first and second-year students registered in some full-time undertaking at the university.
Their teacher is a dynamic young woman, Feng Yan, who is soon to be joined by another teacher, Lu Shaogang, from Taiyuan University, through Hanban. He will assume duties as the Chinese director for the institute.
The long-term goals of the institute shall embrace and continue those short-term goals, already mentioned, while seeking to expand beyond and above these. We would like to see Chinese as a second language, taught in primary and secondary schools. As such the Confucius Institute in Jamaica aims to become a training centre for teachers.
As a nation that has valuable governmental, business and cultural ties with China, we shall seek to create valuable partnerships with business, government and social sectors, as we try to facilitate understanding between both nations to their mutual benefit. In time I envision the Confucius Institute as a household name in Jamaica, readily identifiable by individuals at all levels of the society.
It is my belief that only when we are so socially established as to have the average man in the street identify with and know of us, shall my main aim as director of this fledgling body have been realised.
The Confucius Institute at UWI is paired with the Taiyuan University of Technology in Taiyuan (TUT), Shanxi Province. We believe that this university is proficient in several streams of knowledge from which the UWI and Jamaica could benefit. At the same time, there are several areas of study that Chinese students would be interested in undertaking in Jamaica. Through the efforts of our institute we will seek to facilitate those valuable exchanges.
In fact, September 1 – 5 saw a visiting delegation from TUT to the UWI. During that visit we had the annual joint meeting of the executive board. In this meeting a memorandum of understanding concerning the governing of the Confucius Institute was signed between Gordon Shirley, principal of Mona, and Xu Bingshe, vice-president of Taiyuan University.
It was also during this meeting that a local advisory board, composed of Jamaicans accomplished in their respective fields, was presented for the first time to the executive board for approval. Some members of said local advisory board are of Chinese heritage and drawn from academia, the business field, and so forth.
The home we occupy and currently enjoy at the UWI happened under the acting directorship of Dr Marie-Jose Nzengou-Tayo, who heads the Department of Modern Languages, and who has represented our Confucius Institute on several occasions, both in China and the United States. She has worked tirelessly in seeking to tend this newborn institution even as some permanent director was being sought.
Yet she is not alone in this as we acknowledge Dr Swithin Wilmott, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Education, Dr Camille Bell-Hutchinson, Campus Registrar and Mrs Althea Gordon-Clennon, who have all represented the interest of the Confucius Institute internationally. Through their hard work and dedication we saw its official opening on Monday, July 19, 2010. This happened under the watchful eyes of Mr Chen Jinghua, ambassador of the PRC to Jamaica and Professor Gordon Shirley.
While we seek to create valuable partnerships with China, the Confucius Institute also functions as a regional institution, and has attended meetings convened in the United States, the primary purpose of which has been to learn from and share with successful institutes in the North American region.
As Jamaicans with a rich and vibrant heritage, this institute will have to resemble us in shape and character. It is mutually understood that while we seek to transmit, in the main, the language and culture of China, what has made Jamaica vibrant and viable must be upheld and revealed.
There are many young people in Jamaica who demonstrate interest in China’s old culture, as well as the rapid pace of her development. In helping to prepare and facilitate these youngsters, the vision of the institute is that one day when we dispatch students to China, they may be already equipped with such language facility as would enable them to embark directly upon their course of study, as opposed to having a year or more of compulsory Chinese studies.
— Dr Courtney A Hogarth is the director of the Confucius Institute in Jamaica.