United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day is annually observed across the globe on April 20 to celebrate the Chinese language as well as to promote equal use of all 6 official languages throughout the Organization.
UN Chinese Language Day 2023 was observed on 20th April 2023 under the theme “Chinese Wisdom for a Green World”.
- UN celebrated the 13th annual Chinese Language Day.
Significance of Chinese Language Day:
Chinese Language Day aims to commemorate the contribution of Cangjie, a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters.
- Cangjie is an important historical person in ancient China, credited with creating Chinese characters and with being the official historian of the Yellow Emperor
Background:
i. In 2010, the United Nations Department of Public Information (now the Department of Global Communications) announced the launch of the United Nations Language Day.
- This initiative aims to celebrate the use of multiple languages and cultural diversity and to promote the equal use of the six official languages in the United Nations.
ii. The 1st ever UN Chinese Language Day was observed on 12th November 2010, and since 2011, it is now observed on April 20.
Why April 20?
The Permanent Mission of China to the UN suggested designating “Grain Rain (Gu Yu)” (April 20), one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar, as the UN Chinese Language Day.
- Gu Yu is the 6th solar term among the 24 and it is also the last solar term in spring.
Signature Events 2023:
Hybrid Symposium: Sustainable Future through a Sci-Fi Lens
On 20 April 2023, Liu Cixin, a world-renowned sci-fi writer and Hugo Award winner, virtually shared his views on sustainable development for the Chinese Language Day event.
- Liu Cixin, born in June 1963, is a senior engineer as well as a member of the Chinese Writers Association (CWA) and Chinese Science Writers Association (CWA), is a representative writer of the new generation of Science fiction in China.
Cui Xuelu, a calligrapher and educator, gave an interactive lecture on the history of Chinese characters and calligraphy, elaborating on the concept of harmony between humanity and nature in Chinese calligraphy.
UN Languages Days:
Arabic (18 December), Chinese (20 April), English (23 April), French (20 March), Russian (6 June), and Spanish (23 April).
Indian Army & Assam’s Tezpur University signs MoU for Chinese Language Training of Personnel
On 19th April 2023, the Indian Army and Tezpur University, Assam, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for training the Indian Army personnel in the Chinese language.
- The duration of the course will be 16 weeks and will be conducted at Tezpur University, Assam.
The MoU was signed by HQ 4 Corps on behalf of the Indian Army and the Registrar of Tezpur University in the presence of the Vice Chancellor Professor S N Singh.
Note:
- In 1994, a Parliamentary act created Tezpur University as a major university.
- The university is one of the pioneers in the northeast in teaching foreign languages, including Chinese, with highly-qualified faculty.
Benefits of the Language Course:
i. The language course will improve military personnel’s internal Mandarin proficiency and enable them to communicate with Chinese military personnel as and when the situation demands.
ii. The army personnel will be more empowered to convey their points in a much more convincing way with improved Chinese language skills.
iii. Additionally, it will facilitate a better flow of ideas and comprehension of how the Chinese PLA (People’s Liberation Army) sees the world during various contacts, including Commander Level Talks, Flag Meetings, Joint Exercises, Border Personnel Meetings, etc.
About the United Nations (UN):
Secretary-General- António Guterres
Headquarters- New York, United States of America (USA)
Establishment- 1945
