Daily Times

The Millennium Education (TME)and the Millennium Confucius Classroom (MCC) marked the virtual Chinese New Year celebration “The Year of Ox” and 70th anniversary of Pakistan-China diplomatic relations together with the Ambassador of China NongRong and Cultural Counsellor Zhang Heqing at The Millennium Education, One World Campus E-11/4, Islamabad.

Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq, Founder & CEO Millennium Confucius Classroom, Sabina Zakir Director Schools, Community & Outreach and Mona Kanwal, Manager Chinese Language Department, formally greeted the ambassador and the cultural counsellor. The ceremony started with the national anthems of both countries followed by a speech by Millennial Sukhen Fatima who expressed the steadfast relationship of Pakistan and China through a letter. Millennials from One World Campus dressed up in alluring Chinese cultural attire embellished with gold ornaments danced on the Chinese song. Later the Millennials presented Chinese folk song performance on jasmine flower which mesmerized the audience with their melodious voice.

Speaking on the occasion, NongRong highlighted the importance of Chinese New Year commonly known as Spring Festival. The year of ‘Ox’ which ranks second amongst the 12 animals of Chinese Lunar calendar, represents diligence, dedication, strength, and courage and is a symbol of vitality and prosperity. He appreciated the positive contribution of Millennium Confucius classroom and The Millennium Education over the past three decades to strengthen cultural exchanges for mutual learning amongst different civilizations. He extended his warm wishes on Chinese New year “The Year of Ox” and extended his support to Millennium Confucius Classroom to promote in depth cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan so that the friendship between the two countries can go further from generation to generation.

Chaudhary Faisal Mushtaq said that Chinese Cultural exchange programs and people-to-people exchange is the key to strengthening the deep-rooted friendship between Pakistan and China. “Over the past 70 years, our two countries have developed all weather friendship and conducted multi-dimensional cooperation. Pak-China friendship has remained as strong as a rock standing firm despite the passage of time. To deliver World class education where the rest of the World is increasingly Multilingual a well-rounded education includes high quality language learning. Understanding and proficiency of any foreign language needs time and Chinese is no exception,” he said.

“To indisputably understand the significance of Chinese Language Millennium Confucius Classroom offers Chinese language classes across the Roots Millennium Schools, in the private sector, with the aim of allowing the students to get linguistically literate and culturally competent,” he said. “Millennium Chinese Language Department has 18 full time teachers and nearly 8500 students learning Chinese Language. This has promoted cultural, social, business and educational opportunities among China and Pakistan for the benefit of our future generations,” he added.