On 14 April，Zha Liyou, Consul General of The Consulate General of China in Kolkata,made phone calls to Bidyut Chakrabarty，the Executive Vice President of the International University of India，and Avijit Banerjee,the Dean of the Chinese College respectively to express congratulations for the eighty-fourth anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese College.
Consul General Zha expressed his appreciation for the achievements made by the Chinese Academy in promoting people to people exchanges between China and India over the years. He said that the Chinese scholar Tan Yunshan founded the Chinese Academy in 1937, opening a new chapter in the history of China-Indian cultural exchanges. Ever since then,the College had become a garden for cultural exchanges between China and India,which raised an upsurge in cultural exchange and learning from each other between the two countries.In recent years, with the guidance of university leaders and the efforts of teachers and students of the College, the construction of the College had achieved great progress.The academic atmosphere had become stronger and stronger, more and more bilateral exchange activities had been held. The College had been playing an irreplaceable role in promoting cultural exchanges and mutual studying between the two countries. China and India were two great oriental countries with long history of civilizations, the people to people exchanges played an important role both in the healthy development of bilateral relations and in the uplift of the civilizations of the two countries. Presently Sino-Indian relationship was faced with some difficulties. We should firmly stick to the consensus reached by the leaders of our two countries, work together to weather the storms, overcome difficulties and deepen the people-to-people exchanges.The Chinese College had accumulated a lot of experience in promoting Chinese education,strengthening exchanges at different levels and supporting youth communications between the two countries. We expected the College would make continuing efforts and contributions to enhance the friendship between the two countries and push Sino-Indian relationship back on track.
Consul General Zha also asked about the situation of the teachers and students and encouraged them to overcome the COVID-19 epidemic with confidence. He said that the Consulate General would maintain close contact with the Chinese College and do its best to provide due assistance.
The Executive Vice President Chakrabati and the Dean Banerjee both stated that with the careness and support of the Chinese Embassy in India and the Consulate General of China in Kolkata, the Chinese College had achieved some progress in strengthening cultural exchanges between China and India, and in promoting academic research development and friendly cooperation. In November 2014, The Chinese College was granted the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Award" by President Xi Jinping. In the future, the University would continue to build up the Chinese College by strengthening the systematic construction of the College, promoting bilateral academic and cultural exchanges, enhancing mutual understanding, trust and friendship, and make new contributions to the development of Sino-Indian relationship.
In the past decade, the Chinese College had successively signed memorandum of coordination understandings with Peking University, Hanban of China, Yunnan University, Yunnan Minzu University and Shanghai Library. Over the years,the College had cultivated several thousands of high-level graduates majoring in Chinese. Nowadays, the College has been empowered to grant a full range of bachelor,master and doctor’s degree to the graduates and has a capacity of over 160 students.