On April 20, a celebration to mark the 2022 United Nations Chinese Language Day was held at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, France.

Vice Minister of Education Tian Xuejun attended the event and gave a speech. He pointed out that as one of the six official languages of the United Nations, Chinese language is the most spoken language in the world, in particularly when counting only first language (native) speakers, and the only widely used pictographic language in the world. Tian said the elegant beauty and the rich culture encapsulated in Chinese language had been a magnet attracting an increasing number of learners all over the world, and Chinese language learning had contributed to the cultural and people-to-people exchange globally.

In one of the celebration activities, permanent delegates to UNESCO from several countries together used brush pens to write the Chinese translation of the first sentence of the Preamble to UNESCO’s Constitution: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” Other activities included a Chinese calligraphy exhibition themed the 24 solar terms, Tai Chi performance, tea ceremony, Chinese traditional orchestra performance and choral performance given by children from different countries featuring Chinese songs.

The celebration was co-organized by China National Commission for UNESCO, Permanent Delegation of the People’s Republic of China to UNESCO, Center for Language Education and Cooperation and China Media Group Europe jointly held . A total of over 100 people joined the event, including senior officials like Shen Haixiong, president and editor-in-chief of China Media Group, Santiago Irazabal Mour?o, President of the 41st UNESCO General Conference, Tamara Rastovac Siamashvili, Chairperson of the UNESCO Executive Board, and Yang Jin, Permanent Delegate of China to UNESCO. Other attendees included permanent delegates to UNESCO from over 70 countries and Chinese staff and interns working at UNESCO.