Recently, the 2019 International Chinese Language Education Conference jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Hunan provincial government was convened in Changsha. Zhang Zhijun, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Hangzhou Normal University, attended the meeting and co-chaired the sub-forum "Localization of International Chinese Language Teaching Materials" with Michael Novak, director of Confucius Institute at MTSU.

The conference, under the theme of "Innovation and Development of International Chinese Language Education in the New Era", focuses on international Chinese language education policies, standards and teaching methods, etc., aiming at deepening Sino-foreign cooperation. More than 1000 Chinese and foreign representatives from more than 160 countries attended the conference.

During the conference, our university and the Confucius Institute at Middle Tennessee State University held a board meeting. Zhang Zhijun and Sidney A. McPhee, President of Middle Tennessee State University of the United States attended. The two parties discussed the future development and innovation of the Confucius Institute, and believed that academic exchanges between the two universities should be expanded. With the joint efforts, we are confident to further expand the all-round cooperation to ensure the stability of international Chinese language education in Middle Tennessee.