Aku awekōtuku ki te ao, nō maniniroa, nō maninitua:

Ko mātau, ko manaaki, ko māia te pito mata o te tangata.

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally

recognised moral qualities of people.

- Confucius

(Te reo translation by Professor Rāwinia Higgins, Head of School, School of Maori Studies,and Te Ripowai Higgins, Victoria University of Wellington.)

Dawn over Wellington harbour is inspiring - and special for Wellingtonians and visitors alike. So it was on Saturday 27 September 2014, when a sunrise ceremony heralded our celebration of Confucius Institute Day, the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Confucius Institutes around the world.

Attending the event with Confucius Institute Chair Tony Browne, Chinese Ambassador Wang Lutong, Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and other guests, Professor Neil Quigley, Deputy Vice Chancellor, noted that on a cool and breezy Wellington morning, the sunrise ceremony kicked off a day of Institute activities and ensured that Victoria’s was the first Confucius Institute in the world to mark the event (Read Vicnews). The integration of Māori, Pākehā and Chinese tikanga captured a significant slot for the University and Wellington City in Chinese national and international TV coverage of the worldwide celebration by Confucius Institutes.

Speaking on Saturday morning, Professor Quigley quoted Confucius (孔子) :

Ko tā te tino kaiako whakamau i a tuarangi e mārama ai a nāianei.

A true teacher is one who, keeping the past alive,

is also able to understand the present.

“This saying not only captures the core values of our Confucius Institute and its role in making traditional Chinese knowledge relevant in contemporary New Zealand, but it also resonates with a very wide range of scholarship in our social science and humanities disciplines.”

The video and photos of the special ceremony of the celebration in Wellington were shown on the Grand Opening Ceremony of the first gloval Confucius Institute Day attended by China's Vice Premier Liu Yandong, Education Minister Yuan Guiran, other Ministers, foreign doplomats in Beijing, and Chinees and foreign university students. The images of the Wellington's ceremony was shown on CCTV News on 27th September.

We hope you enjoy the selection of New Zealand and international reports below, as well as our own colourful video, of this special Day.

To all our performers, volunteers and members of the public who joined us on the Day, thank you (xie xie 谢谢 ).We hope to see you all at the forthcoming events marking October Chinese Cultural Month.

See more reports and braodcast on Confucius Institute Day:

Victoria News

CCTV broadcast (Broadcast translation in English.)

Chinese Embassy report

China Education Daily (中国教育新闻网)

Hanban News (汉办新闻)

Wellington Scoop

Xinhua Net report (新华网)

China.org.net report (中国网)

Asia Pacific Daily (亚太日报)

Homevoice report

Sunrise Ceremony (video coming soon)

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