Foreign scientists and students of the Chinese Classes based at the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) joined the Chinese New Year Gala Party on 29th January 2018, together with all the NAOC stuff. 

They played a performance to sing a song Everybody Comes Along in Chinese. This performance was warmly acknowledged and welcomed by the audience which has made the foreign learners feel very much encouraged and confident in their further learning of Chinese.

Because of the growing number of international scientists at NAOC and the belief that good science depends not only on skill but also on communication, a course in Chinese language learning specifically designed for foreign scientists was organized since early January, 2013, which was initiated by Prof. Suijian Xue, Deputy Director-General of NAOC and organized by the International Cooperation Department of NAOC. Recently, some foreign learners from other institutes of CAS also join the Chinese Class regularly. This is the first ever Chinese Class for foreign learners at the Olympic Campus of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Over the past five years, more than 60 foreign scientists from difference countries joined the Chinese Class based at NAOC. There has been three experienced Chinese teachers invited in the teaching activities, and 11 consecutive semesters were held. This has formed a good reputation among the Chinese language learners and has also provided a platform of communication and collaboration with their Chinese counterparts for the foreign scholars who are working at NAOC in particular and CAS as a whole.

Photo 1. Singing Everybody Comes Along in Chinese at the Gala Party.

Photo 2. Group photo with Prof. Jun Yan, Director General, Prof. Gang Zhao, Deputy Director General, and other NAOC staff.