The Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication hosted on Thursday 28th November, the celebration of the 12th anniversary of the Confucius Institute of the Universitat de València, an event presided over by the Principal of the Universitat de València, Maria Vicenta Mestre; and the vice-Principal of the Northeast Normal University (NENU) based in Changchun (China), Han Dongyu.  This event was also attended by the vice-Principal for Internationalisation and Cooperation, Carles Padilla, the former Principal of the Universitat, Francisco Tomás; the director of the Confucius Institute, Vicent Andreu, as well as various authorities from the Northeast Normal University.

The Principal Maria Vicenta Mestre highlighted that “in these 12 years we have worked to bring closer a millenary civilisation, with its vast idiosyncrasy, and with a cultural heritage carved out in many centuries of constant reflection”. Reciting Confucius, the Principal thanked the Chinese authorities for their presence, stating that “it is a satisfaction to receive friends who come from afar”.

For his part, vice-Principal Han Dongyu wanted to recall that “the effort of the ICUV has been recognised by the Chinese head office on several occasions and it is a source of pride for our university to relate at such a high level with the Universitat”.

To commemorate this celebration, various activities were held such as an exhibition of the Chinese lion and dragon, commissioned by the international expert of the Hong Teck Spain group, Santi Valls; an exhibition of Chinese calligraphy by the master Adan Liu and a concert of wind music by the prestigious group "Seda y Bambú” (Silk and Bamboo), an artistic duo that works with instruments that, as in ancient China, the material of which they are made defined which musical family they belonged to. The flutes were made from bamboo with silk strings because that was the material from which the strings were made in the past.

The Confucius Institute of the UV is the only official centre for teaching the Chinese language and disseminating Chinese culture in the Comunitat Valenciana. It began its activities in 2007 and has been publishing since 2010 the bilingual cultural magazine Hispanic-Chinese Confucius Institute, with bimonthly periodicity and with scope of diffusion throughout Latin America. It was awarded by the Generalitat in 2017 with the Distinction to Cultural Merit 9 d'Octubre and is considered as "Confucius Model Institute" by its head office in China.