China's Ambassador to Sweden, Zhou Limin, writes to congratulate Xingzhi on its tenth anniversary

Celebrating ten years of Xingzhi

Holding fast to the school's founding purpose · Bringing new thinking to its teaching

Refining how it nurtures its students · Building distinctive flagship activities

As Xingzhi Skolan i Sverige marks its tenth anniversary, China's Ambassador to Sweden, Zhou Limin, has sent a letter of congratulation with his warmest wishes.

In the letter, Ambassador Zhou writes that ten years of blossom and harvest have been ten years of steady effort. Since it was founded, Xingzhi has held to an educational philosophy of letting culture lead the way, teaching according to each student, uniting knowledge with action, and teaching students how to fish for themselves. Rooted in Sweden and working patiently, the school has kept broadening both the forms its teaching takes and the space in which it happens, building a valuable platform for young people in Sweden — and especially for a new generation of Chinese heritage — to learn Chinese and come to know the best of traditional Chinese culture, and making an active contribution to Chinese-language education in Sweden and to exchange between the two cultures.

Language, the Ambassador notes, is the bridge between one heart and another, and the vessel by which a culture is carried on. For everyone studying Chinese in Sweden, learning the language is not only a matter of mastering it: it is also a search for the roots and the spirit of one's own heritage, and, beyond that, it opens a door onto the opportunities of the age and a connection to the world's future. China's embassy in Sweden has always valued and supported the development of Chinese-language education in Sweden, and stands ready to go on offering the Chinese schools here whatever support it can.

Ambassador Zhou expressed the hope that Xingzhi will treat its tenth anniversary as a fresh starting point — holding fast to the purpose the school was founded on, bringing new thinking to its teaching, refining how it nurtures its students, and building more distinctive flagship activities — so as to go on raising a new generation of young people of Chinese heritage who combine a sense of cultural identity with an international outlook, and to contribute still more to the exchange and mutual understanding between the peoples of China and Sweden.