Conference on Chinese culture 21. Oct. 2024

The relationship between the institute and Gyomaendrőd is not new, as the latter has hosted several events presenting various aspects of Chinese culture in the past organized by the Confucius Institute, in its capacity as one of the strategic settlements of the University of Debrecen.

- Our relationship with the University of Debrecen goes back more than two decades, we have organized several scientific conferences together, where domestic and international experts discussed the research results of different disciplines. In 2021, Gyomaendrőd and the Confucius Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (DE) launched a joint series of scientific events, which will hold its fifth conference here in the Szent Antal People's House - said Mayor Balázs Toldi in his welcome speech.

The thoughts of Róbert Keményfi, Dean of - in his absence - were read out by Erik László Kovács, Secretary of the Confucius Institute, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, UD.

- The University of Debrecen, the Faculty of Humanities and its Confucius Institute almost come home to Gyomaendrőd, thanks to the strategic agreement between the institution and the town, with regard to the official side of the cooperation. However, the personal relationship that has developed over the years and has become increasingly close is manifested at every meeting and contributes to the feeling that we really come home to Gyomaendrőd, the Dean's welcome speech emphasized.

The speech also highlighted the recent achievements and successes of the Institute. Recently, a UD delegation visited Tianjin University of Foreign Languages in China, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

 
- During the visit, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the launch of a Chinese course in Debrecen, and the Confucius Institutes Partnership Association, established by TFSU, was also established with the participation of the University of Debrecen," said the Dean.

- However, in addition to the successes and international contacts, the cooperation with the Confucius Institutes in Hungary, the exchange of experience, joint events and professional meetings are important, which enable us to provide even better quality education to our students. Gyomaendrőd contributes to this - among other things - with the annual professional meeting, for which we thank our hosts - concluded Róbert Keményfi's speech.

In the professional programmed, Pál Csontos, Hungarian director of the Confucius Institute at UD University of the Arts, gave a lecture entitled "Folk songs and children's songs in language teaching", while Éva Bihari Nagy, head of the Department of Ethnography and Museology at the Institute of Ethnography and Museology at the DE University of the Arts, shared the observations of an ethnographic delegate in China. In addition, the audience could familiarize themselves  with Chinese myths that are also appearing in the digital world, get a taste of Chinese poetry and, as a real specialty, get information about the appearance of "disease demons" in Hungarian folklore from a medical perspective.

For ease of understanding, the organizers also provided interpretation of the Chinese presentations into Hungarian and Chinese for the Hungarian presentations.

- The presentations at the conference opened the curtain on the rich repository of Chinese folklore, allowing us a glimpse into the ancient treasures of Chinese folklore. When the old Hungarian people were sad, they sang, when they were happy, they danced. When a Chinese person wants to express their emotions, they turn to song and music, when they are happy, they dance. We may be far apart geographically, even thousands of kilometers away, but we understand each other when we talk about our ancient treasure, folk songs", said István Szonda, ethnographic museologist, cultural anthropologist and director of the Szent Antal Folk House, which hosted the event.

The programmed ended with a music and dance performance by the Chinese Student Association (Debrecen) and the Körösmenti Folk Dance Ensemble (Gyomaendrőd).

Press Centre - BZs