Picture and a very-roughly-translated
article from "El mundo":
The Princes have presided in Beijing the inauguration of the new seat of the Cervantes Institute, the greatest one of the 58 institutions in 38 countries, accompanied by the minister of Outer Subjects, Miguel Moratinos Angel, who has announced the opening of a new center the next year in Shanghai, the economic motor of China.
Felipe de Borbón, in his speech during the inauguration of the act, has stood out once again - since he comes doing since he arrived at China for two days Spain, in this occasion with the Cervantes Institute, has been the route by Chinese which can accede to Ibero-America.
“Véanlo- said he- like the great light that illuminates the way towards an exciting one, rich and enormous region of the world, Ibero-America, that with all its diversity is united by a history and a language and a culture” that have political and economic transcendency from the governments and the civil society “towards an authentic community of nations”.
Felipe has remembered that Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people and it is the second language of international communication. After assuring, as also Moratinos did and the director of the Cervantes Institute, Caesar Antonio Molina, that the establishment of new seats of the institution in Asia has highly-priority character for Spain, has emphasized that Beijing is “a neuralgic point in the Asian and world-wide map”.
The Prince has indicated that the Spanish language and the culture could not be absent in a while crucial in which this country watches the world and that will welcome the Olympic Games in 2008 (the Beijing), the International Exhibition in 2010 (Shanghai) and will celebrate in 2007 the Year of Spain in China, in which Molina has also agreed.
As much Felipe as the Spanish Secretary of State has requested who opens itself the sooner in Madrid the Chinese Cultural Center to present a language that speaks a fifth part of the humanity. Any person, commented the Prince, who dominates the Spanish and the official held in low esteem will be able to communicate with a third of the humanity.
This it is the first institute in China that has a directed foreign country only by own personnel, since Germany has other integrated in a university and France the one more with a presidency shared with the country host. The act has counted with the presence of the minister of Culture of China, Sun Jiazheng, for that the new center represents a new profit in the strategic relations of integration between China and Spain, symbolizes a bow of union between the two cultures and demonstrates the interest of both by a communication that glimpses a great future.
In opinion of Sun, thanks to the reform policy and opening, China counts on the opportunity to learn of the foreign countries for the enrichment of the nation.
Moratinos and Molina have emphasized the great expansion of the Spanish in China, where at the present time it is distributed in 20 centers as degree or studies of postdegree and begins to introduce in secondary education. The minister has aimed in addition who the next month of October will start up a television channel in Spanish.
It will serve different The new seat of the Cervantes Institute, in the heart of Beijing, is located in I build of six plants, in 3.000 square meters and has 20 classrooms, assembly hall, exhibition hall and one library with the name of Antonio Machado.
In this one last one, that contains more than 20,000 volumes, the president of the Foundation Antonio Machado, Manuel Núñez Encabo, has read before the Princes two poems of “Solitudes”, and their translator, the Chinese Zhao Zhenjiang, other two in his maternal language.
Previously, Felipe and Letizia discovered a commemorative plaque in the exhibition hall that the sample gathers “Labyrinth of Museums”, in that are represented 16 Spanish pinacotecas of contemporary art. In the occasion of the inauguration, he has been published a new edition of “El Quijote” in Chinese made by Don Yansheng and an important fan of cultural acts. To their arrival to the new seat, the Princes were flattered with the “Dance of the lions”, a colourful dance with which it is desired prosperity and luck and is a sample of solidarity between the nations.
