The School of Chinese Language
Introduction
 
SPEECH OF MR MAO SIWEI, CONSUL GENERAL, AT THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF THE SCHOOL OF CHINESE LANGUAGE, KOLKATA, INDIA ON JULY 16, 2009
 
Mao Siwei
Respected Mr Saraff, Teachers and Students,

I have been in Kolkata already more than one year. In the more than one year, today is my happiest day...

One year ago, I was here to inaugurate The School. Now that one year has passed, we are seeing what are the results of the efforts of the Teachers and the Students.

In India, there are quite a lot of schools teaching Chinese language – in public sector some very good government schools such as the School of Languages at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Cheena Bhavan Santiniketan, these give good Chinese language programmes...

But as far as private schools are concerned, may I say that this school (The School of Chinese Language) might be the best in India.

15 years ago, I was a visiting scholar at JNU and I was also a volunteer teacher for Class 4 or 5 in the language school at JNU. At that time, some students who were learning Chinese language were little bit worried about jobs. Quite often they asked me, Mr Mao how can we find a job after we graduate. Now I think that after 15 years, China India relations have increased so much that if an Indian can speak Chinese, I am sure he will not worry about a job as many companies would like to have someone who can speak Chinese. So, this reflects a great change, about the relationship between our two countries over the last 15 years.

English is a world language. Now more and more Chinese understand English and for the Chinese it becomes easy to understand India, because there are so many English media in India such as newspapers, TV, movies, etc. But you have your own language, your native language, Hindi or Bengali. If a Chinese can know something about India through English, according to my understanding, he may only understand Indian politics and economy, but not culture and history. But if a Chinese can understand Hindi or Bengali it means he can understand the Indian heart; this maybe something more important. So now Students in this school are learning Chinese. You are trying to learn Chinese culture; you are trying to touch our hearts. So I sincerely hope that more and more Indians will learn Chinese and also more and more Chinese people will learn not only English, not only know something about India through English but learn Indian language, Bengali language. Then the two nations will know each other more, will touch each others’ hearts. Our relations and our future will be much more brighter. This is my feeling.

Now I want to show my own effort to learn something about your culture, not through English, but through something else. When I was a scholar at JNU I tried to learn a song, a hindi movie song. At that time there was a very popular movie, 1942 A Love Story. Let me try to sing a song from that movie. Kuch na kao, kuch bhi na kaho……………………bus hai to main hoon, bus hai to tum ho….(Mr Mao sings the whole sing in Hindi!)….Thank you very much….

And lastly, to show our sincere appreciation for the efforts made, we prepared a small gift for Mr Saraff………….

   

 

Mao Siwei

Consul General
of the People’s Republic of China in Kolkata
July 16th, 2009

 
 

His Excellency, Mr Mao Siwei, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China being welcomed by Founder & Principal, Mr Madan Saraff, as he arrives at The School to participate in its First Anniversary celebrations on July 16, 2009

Some of the students of The School, together with its Teachers and Friends from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China enthrall one and all with their superb rendering of a Chinese song

Mr Mao Siwei shows his deep affection for the sub-continent by singing the whole love ballad from 1942 – A Love Story; his grasp of Hindi and melody sweetly surprised the audience

 
         
  1st Anniversary of The School of Chinese Language  
 

The School of Chinese Language - Zhong Wen Xue Xiao - is a non-profit endeavour, a Trust which has been established with the blessings of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Kolkata.

In the words of Mr Mao Siwei: "I believe that the world has enough space for China and India, the two largest developing countries, to develop together.. I believe that an increasing number of young Indians will learn the Chinese language...The School, formed to promote understanding and learning has our blessings...."

Language is the river which can connect peoples; knowledge of language helps break barriers and The School was established to meet the challenges- through language and interaction- of cultural, social and business differences which exist between the two great countries.

We have been fortunate to place The School in Sunny Park, a quiet cul-de-sac in the heart of Kolkata, to ensure convenience and a peaceful atmosphere of dedicated teaching and learning. We expect to make the grasp of Mandarin (Putonghua) an interesting and useful experience for each one of the participants.

The Chinese Consulate opened in Kolkata in 2008, as did The School, when it was inaugurated, on July 16, 2008, by His Excellency, Mr. Mao Siwei, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Kolkata. The School celebrated its 1st Anniversary on July 16, 2009, together with friends from the Chinese Consulate General.

The School hopes to add a micro-drop of understanding to the ocean of un-understanding between the two countries by providing and creating a better and correct perception of each other and each others' cultures; it is a platform for the launch into the exciting future which is before us; a century which clearly belongs to India and China.

Our curricula have been formulated in consultation with our Chinese Teachers, Universities and the Consul General, in accordance with international practices; stress is laid on correct phonetics and authentic teaching. Generally, each Session provides 2 hours which is the optimum time-span to learn this language. We maintain a Teacher:Student ratio of 1:15.

We offer an Intensive Course of 3 years suitable for Classes between 9 and 12 as well as all adults. At the end of which dedicated Students would be fluent in Chinese Language and, whilst being well-versed in a useful foreign language, would also be able to take advantage of the quality yet affordable higher education offered by our reputed partner Universities in China. Amongst the post-school fields which we offer are Medicine (MBBS/equivalent), Nursing, Dentistry, Business Management (BBA, MBA and equivalent), Computer Hardware (MCA/MSc/equivalent) and Chinese Language & Literature.

We offer, currently, the foll. Courses:

Express-Traveller’s Course (Luxing zhe Sucheng Kecheng) – 15 Sessions about 1.5 months

Express (Sucheng Kecheng) 35 Sessions, about 4 months

Express—Business (Sucheng Shangwu Kecheng) 45 Sessions, about 5 months

INTENSIVE (Qianghua Kecheng) 104 Sessions each Semester of about 9 months x 3 Semesters

The School provides the opportunity to all Indian Students to avail of quality yet affordable higher education at our partner State Universities in China in fields ranging from BBA/MBA to BSc/MSc and MBBS/Nursing.

A complete mastery of Chinese may not be a very easy task for everyone; even the Chinese. An extremely well-educated Chinese scholar has a knowledge of about 6000 to 7000 characters. However, a normal educated person possesses the knowledge of about 2000 characters; this knowledge is sufficient to read a Chinese newspaper, and to communicate very efficiently. A proficient foreign student with a career in mind should understand anywhere between 1500 to 2000 characters. This study requires about 3 years - 3 years of dedication and passion. The School shall help you in this very possible task.

Note: It is important to know that although normally used Chinese characters (as distinct from vocabulary) may be only about 2000, Chinese vocabulary (the many different words made up of various combinations of such Chinese characters) are many fold more.

Faculty consists of native Chinese Teachers, including specialists and highly qualified Teachers from Government of China, and Indian Scholars conversant with contemporary China. With the sincere devotion of our expert Teachers and your hard-work, practice, dedication and perseverance, we expect all our students to achieve their goals, both short and long term.

The School proposes to subsidize 90% of the fee for 10% of student strength who would be from the needy and deserving strata, (paying only 10% of the normal fee), in our small effort towards supporting intellectual quality and social diversity. Deserving students with outstanding ability, dedication and comprehension/grasp of Mandarin would thus create an energy in the classroom and find the opportunity to join the revolution in the making.

 
We promise to make the learning experience useful and interesting, if not exciting…