KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A Chinese Cultural Centre opened at ASPU earlier this week. The opening ceremony was attended by Mr. Tian Erlong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Armenia.

Welcoming the Ambassador ASPU Rector Ruben Mirzakhanyan said that in recent years ASPU has established effective cooperation with a number of universities in China. He particularly emphasized the importance of teaching Chinese [as a second foreign language] at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and at the Primary School.

Mr. Tian Erlong, in turn, congratulated the ASPU rector on the occasion of opening a Chinese Cultural Centre at ASPU wishing the Centre every success.

“We are very excited about the opening of the Centre at ASPU which is taking place at a time when China and Armenia are developing their relations in different directions: politics, economics, education, etc. I think that the cooperation is very important fir both countries, especially for young people,” the ambassador said. He voiced hope that the Centre will contribute to the strengthening of cooperation.

ASPU Professor Sergo Yeritsyan has been observing the development of Armenian-Chinese relations for many years. He thinks the opening of the Centre is an important event and a serious step in the development of Armenian-Chinese relations.

Ara Hakobayan, Dean of the Faculty of Art Education, said Armenian-Chinese relations started long ago when the Chinese silk was coloured with Armenian vordan karmir (a paint extracted from the Armenian cochineal worm) and the Armenian manuscripts (of the 12th and 13th century) contain pages featuring Chinese miniature elements. Ara Hakobyan says the opening of the Chinese Centre will contribute to the formation of a new culture towards Chinese art.

Mutual visits, lectures, conferences, etc. Professor Hasmik Hovhannisyan, Head of the Chair of Philosophy and Logic after Academician Georg Brutian, spoke about the scientific collaboration between the two universities in question and expressed hope that the cooperation would continue in the future.

Van Sijia, a student of the Southwest University (SWU), is doing an internship at ASPU. He introduced the students and pupils of the Primary School to Chinese culture and language. She assured everyone that she is studying Armenian culture with love and great interest and played Dle Yaman (an Armenian folk song) on duduk.

Later on, pupils of the ASU Primary School cited poems and sang songs in Chinese for the guests.