The 9th Confucius Institute Conference is held in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, Dec. 7, 2014. By far, The Confucius Institute have 475 institutes and another 851 Confucius Classrooms in 126 countries or regions worldwide, with 3.45 million registered students in cumulative terms. [Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan]

On June 15, 2004, former Chinese president Hu Jintao attended the signing ceremony of the first-ever Confucius Institute in the world ---- Confucius Institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, initiating China’s endeavor of joint opening and running of Confucius Institutes around the world.

In the past decade, Confucius Institutes have been adhering to the mission of “satisfying the demands of people from different countries and regions in the world who learn the Chinese language, to enhancing understanding of the Chinese language and culture by these peoples, to strengthening educational and cultural exchange and cooperation between China and other countries, to deepening friendly relationships with other nations, to promoting the development of multi-culturalism, and to constructing a harmonious world”. Confucius Institutes have achieved innovative development, become important bases for Chinese language international education and cultural exchanges between China and rest of the world, and a broad platform and bridge for people of all countries to learn Chinese language and culture and increase friendship between the Chinese people and other peoples of the world. In his congratulatory letter on the 10thanniversary of Confucius Institute and the launch of the first global “Confucius Institute Day”, Chinese President Xi Jinping highly commended Confucius Institutes and wisely pointed out: “Confucius Institute belongs to China, and also to the world.”