Click to enlarge photos.By Elizabeth Farnsworth
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
KENNESAW - The Middle Kingdom will soon be sinking roots into Kennesaw's Southern soil. Kennesaw State University announced this week that it will be the second university in Georgia, and one of 42 in the U.S., to receive a Confucius Institute.
The center, funded in large part by the Chinese government, is intended to further the study of Chinese language and culture in the U.S. It is expected to open in the fall.
"China is the next big thing," said Akanmu Adebayo, executive director of KSU's Institute for Global Initiatives. His institute will be the new home for the Confucius Institute.
The center will bolster the relationship between KSU and China, Adebayo said. It should also benefit the surrounding Kennesaw community. The institute will offer programs in Chinese language and culture for students at the university and for community residents. Programs will cover everything from the complex Chinese language, the economy and social development, to more lighthearted classes on calligraphy, healing martial arts and cooking.
Although negotiations are still underway, the Chinese government is expected to provide about $100,000 a year for the first two or three years the center is in operation, Adebayo said. The center is estimated to cost about $150,000 a year; KSU will pick up the rest of the cost, he said. Adebayo hopes the institute will be self-sufficient by the time the Chinese government pulls out.
KSU President Dan Papp is currently in China. He left Saturday. There, he plans to meet with university partnerships at cities up and down the country's east coast. Papp will also finalize an agreement with Yangzhou University, which will help to operate the Confucius Institute at KSU.
"Our ties to China span many years and cut across endeavors throughout the university," Papp said in a statement.
Adebayo said that KSU is aware of China's human rights and environmental record.
"Definitely we are concerned about that. But we also know that our businesses, American businesses, are already there. Our imports are coming from China, even with all these concerns. We do think that in the interest of academic freedom and in the interest of good information for our students, they need to know," he said.
The Chinese government will not restrict any of the issues the Confucius Institute might study, he said.
"We are trying to use this medium to communicate to China the need for China to act as a responsible global power," Adebayo said.
China's booming economy is creating business opportunities for many Americans, Adebayo said.
"If many of the businesses are outsourcing or relocating, wouldn't it be better if we included that in our curriculum, so that our students graduate with a better understanding of how the world works?" Adebayo said.
The Confucius Institute will not have a museum. It does expect to host exhibitions of traveling artwork from time to time, Adebayo said. He also hopes the institute will train more Chinese language teachers for area school districts, including Cobb.
Dr. Liuxi Meng teaches Chinese at KSU. There are about 80 students in the university's Chinese program each semester, he said.
"In the companies, people need to deal with Chinese. If they know some Chinese language, Chinese culture, that will be easier for them to do business in China," Meng said.
Marietta businessman James Whitcomb can vouch to that from firsthand experience. He runs Your EZ English, a business teaching English in China. Whitcomb took Chinese classes at KSU. He said the course was very helpful.
"It's important to understand the language of the culture in which you're operating," he said.
Meng said that area teachers are in desperate need of courses dealing with all things China: culture, literature, linguistics and language. Now, KSU will have a teacher-training program that can properly equip teachers in the greater Atlanta area, he said.
KSU sophomore Yin Fen is among the 51 Chinese students enrolled at KSU. The 20-year-old accounting major said she is "really glad" to hear the Confucius Institute will be installed at her school.
"It's a good channel for people from the U.S. and people from China to know each other better. Right now the world is getting smaller and smaller," she said. "People want to know what it's like there. I have to say that people have a different idea about China. People want to know: what is real life there? I think people are interested."
The other center in the state is housed at Emory. It was launched in March. Information about tuition and course schedules is not yet available, according to spokesmen for KSU.
efarnsworth@mdjonline.com
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China will not be great until they eliminate communism from their government. With forced abortions to enforce the one-child policy and crackdowns on house churches that just want to worship as they please without government intrusion, China makes a mockery of freedom and self-determination. I think it would be better if the U.S. started a "Franklin Institue" or "Washington Institute' in the heart of Bejing. We don't need Chinese indoctrination here. They need to learn from us (U.S.)!
That's true. Some question these Confucius Institutes of China as being more like propaganda arms of the Chinese government. Emory and KSU are China's patsies in Georgia. And Kennesaw State must foot part of the bill? I thought Papp was saying that KSU is so cash strapped that they are begging the state for more money? The savings by KSU dropping this institute would cover the cost for one additional professor. KSU is over extending itself and turns right around and pleads to the state for additional money.