Confucius Institute - History

History

After establishing a pilot institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in June 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened on 21 November 2004 in Seoul, South Korea. Hundreds more have since opened in dozens of countries around the world with the highest concentration of Institutes in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. In April 2007 the first research-based Confucius Institute opened at Waseda University, in Japan. In partnership with Peking University the program promotes the research activities of graduate students studying China. As of October 2010, there were 322 Confucius Institutes and 337 Confucius Classrooms in 94 countries and regions. The Ministry of Education estimates 100 million people overseas may be learning Chinese by 2010 and the program is continuing rapid expansion to keep pace. Hanban aims to establish 1,000 Confucius Institutes by 2020. The rapid expansion of Confucius Institutes has led to a backlash, especially in the United States and other Western countries. Anne-Marie Brady has criticized Confucius Institutes, saying that "since the late 80s Beijing has been trying to promote the study of Chinese internationally in the belief that those who take the trouble to study Chinese will be more sympathetic to China's perspective."