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November 6, 2009

CLINTON – Presbyterian College celebrated the launch of its new Confucius Institute Friday (Nov. 6) in grand fashion – in front of what is believed to be America’s largest bronze statue of China’s “Greatest Sage.”

PC president Dr. John Griffith welcomed approximately 200 guests – including officials from the Chinese Embassy to the United States and members of the college’s Board of Trustees – to the ceremonial opening of the institute, which was granted last fall by the Chinese Language Council International and the Chinese Embassy.

“There are more than 60 Confucius Institutes in our country – but only one at a national liberal arts college,” said Griffith, “and we’re very proud to be that institution.”

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the Confucius Institute’s headquarters at Brown Common, Dr. Chen Shuping, president of Guizhou University in the People’s Republic of China, shared Griffith’s sense of pride in the partnership forged between the two schools and its importance to the two countries they represent.

“We will never forget the commitment we have made to one another,” he said. “… In the 21st century, it more important than ever for the two great nations of China and the United States to commit to economic exchanges, environmental preservation, and combating terrorism to construct a peaceful and prosperous world.”

Establishing a partnership with his university and sharing exchanges via the Confucius Institute, he said, will provide not only greater understanding between the cultures but also new avenues for trade, investment, and scientific and technological exchanges.

“Until now, there have been 331 Confucius Institutes in 83 countries,” Chen said. “This one is not the first but it can be the best.”

Bill Timmerman, the chief executive officer of SCANA Inc. in Columbia and a major sponsor for the institute, said South Carolina has been at the forefront of global trade since the port city of Charleston was founded. “Many of the glorious shrubs and trees in our state were imported from the Far East,” he said. “We take them as our own now but that’s where they originated.” Pointing to his own company’s energy initiatives with China, Timmerman said this continued history of exchange only brings about good.

“As far as our country and the world is concerned, when we are sharing cultures and trading with one another, it’s pretty hard to have disputes that go on for very long,” he said. “I think that mutual experience bodes well for the rest of us who inhabit this earth.”

At a luncheon prior to the opening ceremony, Presbyterian College presented one of its honored guests with an honorary degree.

Dr. You Shaozhong, minister counselor of the Education Office of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the U.S., was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Griffith and trustee chairman William Shearer.

“It is indeed a great moment for me to receive such a great honor from such a great college,” You said. “I consider this honor also as a token of friendship between our two great peoples. … It really is an honor beyond my dreams – not only for myself as an individual but also for the country I serve.”

PC’s Confucius Institute partners the college with the Tianjin Free Trade Zone Administration in Greenville and the Upstate Alliance. PC also joins a consortium of four other Upstate educational institutions – Clemson University, Converse College, Furman University, and Wofford College – that have united to promote teaching Chinese in elementary and secondary schools in South Carolina. The institute also will provide outreach programming to the general public and business leaders who are interested in engaging China.

The Confucius Institute is led on campus by Dr. David Liu, assistant professor of political science at PC.