The Taipei Representative Office in France on Saturday celebrated the inauguration of France’s first Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning.
The center opened in September, but the celebration was postponed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
When developing its plan to open language centers overseas, the Overseas Community Affairs Council chose to collaborate with established Chinese-language schools.
Photo: CNA
Saturday’s inauguration was held at the Association Linguistique et Culturelle Chinoise (ALCC), a Chinese-langauge school that has served the eastern Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-Grand since 1989.
The center, the first of its kind in France, aims to promote bilateral exchanges by teaching Mandarin and traditional Chinese characters, along with Taiwanese culture and values.
Representative to France Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) and his deputy, Bernard Liu (劉邦治), attended the event.
In a speech, Wu praised the aesthetics of traditional Chinese characters and touted Taiwan as representative of the beauty of Chinese culture.
Noisy-le-Grand Deputy Mayor Veronique Lachkar said that the community was ecstatic about the center’s opening.
Lachkar thanked the ALCC director for her promotion of traditional Chinese, and cultural exchanges between France and Taiwan.
The center is one of 18 Chinese-language centers that the council has opened so far this year, including 15 in the US and one in Germany.
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