Australia's Tasmania opens first Confucius Classroom

The opening ceremony of the first Confucius Classroom in Australia's island state of Tasmania was held on Thursday at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston. [Photo/Xinhua]

Student representative Eason Hamilton gave a beautiful speech on behalf of the students in both fluent Chinese and English.

"I'm very interested in Chinese language and Chinese culture that's why I love mandarin. So I would like to thank you for opening the Confucius Classroom in our school, it will help us to learn more about China and Chinese language, culture and history," the seven-grade boy said.

Andy Muller, the school principle told Xinhua that they were very honored and very excited about the opening of the first Confucius Classroom, and since the visit of President Xi one year ago, Scotch Oakburn was blessed with the development of the wonderful relationship between China and Australia.

Last November, President Xi paid a historic visit to the heart-shaped island, which put Tasmania in spotlight of world wide attention for the first time. Generations of preparations had been done by the political and business leaders of Tasmania to accomplish this visit, but it was a handful of students who gave the final nudge.

Students from Scotch Oakburn College made a case for Xi to visit the remote island state by sending him a letter written in Chinese describing scenic sites and local specialties. "Their words have filled me with curiosity," Xi told the lawmakers when addressing the Australian parliament in Canberra before his unprecedented visit to Tasmania.

This May, 22 Scotch Oakburn College students, together with parents and teachers, were invited by President Xi for a week-long visit to China during which they met with Peng Liyuan, President Xi's wife, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in central Beijing.

Muller asked Song to convey thanks and appreciation of the school to Chinese government for their cooperation and tireless support for the study and the expansion of Chinese language in Australia, and to Chinese people for their warm welcome.

12-year-old Bronte told Xinhua that she made the decision of learning Chinese on her own, "because I found Chinese language and culture are very interesting." The seven-grade girl want to be a journalist in the future, and reporting in Chinese obviously can help her own more audience, a lot more.

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