Chinese President Sends Message to Hungarian School Children

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently sent a letter to the students of the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual Primary and Secondary School in Hungary, encouraging the Hungarian youth to learn more about China and become ambassadors for the development of Sino-Hungarian friendship.

The president’s message was in fact a letter of reply, as two students from the school wrote to Xi Jinping and his wife on behalf of all the students, greeting them on the occasion of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit. In the reply letter, Xi Jinping wrote that he still remembers his visit to Hungary in 2009, when he visited the school in question. He also praised the students for their commitment to learning Chinese and for their contribution to Sino-Hungarian friendship. The Chinese President stressed that

China and Hungary share a long history and a great culture, and their people have traditionally enjoyed a friendly relationship, which is only growing closer.

The president concluded his letter by saying that he hoped that the Hungarian school’s students would study in China after graduation and that more and more young Hungarians would come to love the Chinese language.

The letter was officially presented at the school last Friday by Yang Chao, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary. The event was attended by Bonita Varga and Tamara Imre, the authors of the letter, who said they were excited and honored to receive the letter from the Chinese President and hope to go to university in China. Bonita Varga told Chinese news site Xinhua that

their dream is to be translators, and Xi Jinping’s letter will encourage them to continue working hard to study Chinese and become excellent translators.

Zsuzsanna Erdélyi, head of the school, said to Xinhua that they were very happy with the reply because they thought that a man of such high rank would not reply to a letter from students. She said they were very proud of their students for writing such a letter.

The event was also attended by Ádám Stifter, Deputy State Secretary for the Development of Eastern Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who said it was one of the best examples of cultural and educational cooperation between Hungary and China. He said that by learning the history and culture of the Chinese language, the students’ knowledge will be enriched, which will contribute to the development of relations between the two countries.

Featured photo via Facebook/Chinese Embassy in Hungary