Collaborating to Build Chinese Community and Culture
By Katrin Marquez
In Gwangju, China’s growing global influence is expressed through the important roles the Confucius Institute at Honam University serves in the city. Located in Ssangchong-dong, the institute is also known as Gongja—sometimes called the Gongja Academy due to the classes they offer.
The Confucius Institute at Honam University first opened nearly a decade ago in December 2006. It resulted from an on-going collaboration between Honam University here in Gwangju and Hunan University in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. The institute is jointly run by the two universities. Since its creation, the institute has been dedicated to teaching the public about Chinese culture. According to a press release on the Hunan University website, in 2014, the Chinese Counsel General Wang Xianmin visited Gwangju and praised “the institute’s colorful work and considerable achievements in teaching Chinese” and promised to provide continued support so that the institute may “ increase understanding and friendship between [the] peoples of [China and Korea].”
As Wang’s words suggest, the institute provides a number of valuable services for Gwangju residents. At the institute there are Chinese classes for every level of learner, from beginner to advanced, as well more specialized topics like pronunciation or character writing. To further improve Chinese instruction in Gwangju, the institute also has Chinese teacher training programs. In fact, the native Chinese teachers in Gwangju who came through the institute’s programs outnumber those who came through CPIK—Chinese Program in Korea, the Chinese equivalent of the more ubiquitous EPIK program run by the Korean government. Additionally, the institute has developed various textbooks for Chinese study, including a book meant to speed up language acquisition for children and a reference guide for the Korean delegation that attended the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Outside of language instruction, the institute’s programming builds community. Hea Tao, a native Chinese teacher through CPIK, says that the center provides resources for Chinese residents since it allows for a central meeting place for Chinese teachers. She adds that the institute also has social programming that allows newly-arrive Chinese residents be better acclimated to Korean life. Non-Chinese Gwangju residents can benefit from the many cultural opportunities the institute provides—like food festivals or Chinese-language speech and singing competitions for students.
Korean-language information about the institute can be found in Korean at gongja.honam.ac.kr/.