The celebration of United Nations Chinese Day was held at UNESCO headquarters.

The celebration of United Nations Chinese Day was held at UNESCO headquarters.

On June 5, 2008, the celebration of United Nations Chinese Day was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. The purpose of the activity is to show the charm of China language and promote the exchange and mutual learning among civilizations.

At the theme forum that day, Jin Yang, Permanent Representative of China to UNESCO, said that the theme of this year's United Nations Chinese Day is "Chinese: Promoting Civilized Exchange and Mutual Learning", which is highly consistent with UNESCO's purpose of protecting linguistic and cultural diversity, promoting civilized exchange and mutual learning and maintaining lasting world peace.

Chen Jie, Vice Minister of Education of China and Director of UNESCO National Committee in China, said in a video speech that language is the carrier of human civilization. As one of the six official languages of the United Nations, Chinese is an important medium for China to participate in international cooperation, and it plays an active role in promoting cultural exchanges, cultural integration and popular support between China and other countries.

Taufik Jalasi, Assistant Director-General of Information Communication of UNESCO, said that as one of the most widely used languages on earth, Chinese is not only a language, but also a window of unique way of thinking, a window to interpret splendid culture and a long history, and a window to trace back hundreds of years of civilized exchanges. China Day provides an opportunity to open this window.

Nicolas Hidier, governor of China University in France, said that Chinese is an international language and the French government attaches great importance to Chinese teaching. Between 2022 and 2023, more than 40,000 middle school students in France studied Chinese, and 884 middle schools and 24 primary schools offered Chinese courses.

The day's activities mainly included theme forums and receptions, which were jointly organized by the Permanent Mission of China to UNESCO, the National Committee for UNESCO of China, the Center for Chinese and Foreign Language Exchanges and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education of China, and the European Headquarters of China Central Radio and Television. More than 200 people from permanent missions to UNESCO, UNESCO Secretariat, French and European universities attended the theme forum. During the reception, short films celebrating China Day were shown, including live demonstrations of calligraphy, tea ceremony and singing of Chinese songs. Qu Xing, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, and Tamara Siamashvili, President of UNESCO Executive Board, delivered speeches at the reception respectively.

In 20 10, the United Nations designated "Grain Rain", one of the traditional 24 solar terms in China, as "United Nations Chinese Day".