The Fifth International Cultural Festival

Con gran exito se realizó el 5to Festival Cultural en Beijing University, cuyo principal  objetivo perseguía el cultivar una perspectiva internacional entre sus estudiantes, amigos y ciudadanos en Beijing. En la cita participaron 59 países dentro de los cuales estuvo presente nuestro país.

2008年10月26日，北京大学第五届国际文化节在北京大学百周年纪念讲堂广场隆重举行。不知不觉，国际文化节这一北大校园文化的品牌活动已经迎来了自己的五岁生日。从最初的尝试到走向成熟，国际文化节蓬勃发展的五年，见证了北京大学迈向国际化的坚定步伐。目前，国际文化节堪称北京大学的品牌校园活动，并发展成为一项丰富中外学生校园文化、展示学生国际化风采的年度盛事。

Chinese Version

Peking University, Beijing, October 27, 2008: On Oct 26th, the fifth annual International Cultural Festival (ICF) was held on the square of PKU Hall. With the principle of “cultivating an international prospective among the youngsters and building an international and harmonious campus,” and the slogan of “My Olympics”, the festival of this year featured the sharing and exchange of Olympic experiences among students from different countries, illustrating the spirit of “One World, One Dream.”

The attendance of the opening ceremony included with guests such as LIU Baoli, Vice Director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education, YANG Xinyu, Vice General Secretary of China Scholarship Council and leaders from the Office of Chinese Language Council International, just to name a few. This year, for the first time, with the cooperation with the local government of Haidian District, the University extended the influence of the festival outside the campus, building it into a cultural brand of the district. Leaders from People’s Congress of Haidian District including Director ZHOU Laisheng, also attended the ceremony and he delivered a speech in which he highly praised the significant role of the festival in establishing international friendships through communication and exchanges.

The square was crowded with enthusiastic people from home and abroad, with several shows taking place, such as “My Olympics---Keynote Tour”, which involved students from 59 countries and regions telling their Olympic stories through pictures or music, the display of painting and calligraphy masterpieces of several kinds, the singing contest of overseas students, the forum How I See the Olympics, which invited foreign ambassadors and scholars to communicate with university students to present the charms of Olympics in different aspects, and so on.

Thanks to the help of the district government, the University was able to invite some folk artisans in the district to display their works in the festival which attracted crowds of overseas students with their embodiment of Chinese traditions and refined craft. In order to draw more devoted participants, the photography contest was held to encourage photography enthusiasts to catch the precious moments of the festival. In addition, a card was specially made for each student present with the stamp of memorial to cherish the memory.

The festival received general attention from the media. Besides its cooperation with the magazine, China’s Talents, it was broadcasted live by Sohu.com in order for the international campus culture could reach more people.

Related information: statistics of overseas students in PKU
According to statistics as of October 2008, the number of long term overseas students for on campus (including the School of Medical Sciences) has totaled to 2,735, and the number of short term overseas students is over 2,500. They come from 104 countries, studying in different 32 departments. Among them, 2,030 students are pursuing a degree, taking up approximately three quarters of all the overseas students, including 1510 undergraduates, 322 master candidates, and 198 doctorial candidates. Humanities, Social Sciences and School of Medical Sciences have enrolled most of the overseas population here at PKU.

Edited By : Yan Jiefei
Translated By : Lin Jingxian
Source : PKU News (Chinese)