Confucius Institute McMaster University

Bob Neibert introduced guest speaker Dr. Angela Sheng Director Chair of the Confucius Institute at McMaster University. Dr. Sheng spoke about the institute being a partnership among McMaster, the Beijing Language and Culture University in China and a consortium called HANBAN which consists of 12 ministries in China. This is one of many institutes world wide that is designed to encourage the study of the Mandarin language and Chinese culture. Dr Sheng informed us that there were over 1.4 billion people who speak Mandarin and there are 1.3 million people in Canada that speak Chinese. Locally, in the southern Ontario cencus tract there are over 160 000 people who speak Mandarin and another 240 000 who speak Cantonese. The institute is working within the McMaster Humanities Department to encourage the community to learn to speak Mandarin for fun, to know their neighbours better, to learn the culture through films and games, for travel, jobs and business. She also indicated that learning the language helps ward off Alzheimers disease. She told us to expect to see more Chinese tourists in Canada because China recently designated Canada a tourism destination country. This brings improved opportunity to learn more about the Chinese people and to build business and cultural relations.

There were several follow-up questions to Dr. Sheng and Jan Southall thanked her and Leah Qian, her assistant, for coming to our club. It should be noted that the fourth Object of Rotary is, "The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service". The Confucius Institute at McMaster is a good fit with the mission of Rotary International.