In the five years that the Confucius Institute has been opened at Renison University College, the number of students taking Chinese language courses has more than doubled.<\/p>\n
And the number of residents from the community taking Chinese language courses for interest has jumped steadily. The last school year saw 500 students taking credit courses at the institute and about 100 community residents taking non-credit courses.<\/p>\n
The local institute receives money from China and is centrally administered by Hanban, a Chinese government agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to bring two cultures together,\u201d said Bruce Mitchell, associate provost and chair of the institute\u2019s board. \u201cIt\u2019s not just language but art, cooking and crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it opened in May, 2007, the local Confucius Institute was the second institute in Canada. The institute is a partnership between Waterloo and Nanjing University in China.<\/p>\n
The school has five instructors, one of whom is from China, said Yan Li, director of the institute.<\/p>\n
Confucianism is one of four traditional Chinese teachings. The ideology led by the sage known as Confucius, grounded society by preaching harmonious social relations and self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Mitchell wouldn\u2019t say how much the institute receives, citing that Hanban had requested schools not make the amount of money received public.<\/p>\n
The local institute initially received about $100,000 in start-up money to get the school off the ground.<\/p>\n
Recently, controversy surfaced at another Confucius Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton over Chinese government ties to the Canadian school and questioning academic freedom.<\/p>\n
A former instructor at the school, who came from China, quit her job after she was forced to hide her spiritual belief in Falun Gong \u2014 a movement the Chinese government doesn\u2019t support. Her claim against McMaster was detailed in a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in a media report.<\/p>\n
In her submission to the tribunal, a copy of her teaching contract said Confucius Institute teachers are not allowed to part of \u201cillegal\u201d organizations such as Falun Gong.<\/p>\n
Mitchell said the Confucius Institute at Renison has always a good working relationship with Chinese officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never been told what to teach or how to teach,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have not been intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not had that experience full stop. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
George Freeman, president of the faculty association at Waterloo said he contacted Mitchell by email inquiring about whether academic freedom could be compromised at the institute with the relationship with China.<\/p>\n
Freeman said he was satisfied with the response from Mitchell, who said the relationship with China and Renison was open and candid and the partnership with Nanjing University was strong.<\/p>\n
Each December, Li travels to China for annual meeting with Hanban. The local institute has also been holding conferences in Waterloo.<\/p>\n
Li, who came to Canada in 1987 for a master\u2019s degree in history at the University of Windsor, said she is comfortable with the partnership with China and Renison.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the power in our hands,\u201d said Li, who started teaching Chinese culture at Renison in 1987.<\/p>\n