VIDEO // Emotional moment in Beijing: Chinese students recite in Romanian poems in front of Moldovan foreign affairs minister

A moment of profound emotional and spiritual significance has taken place in the heart of China. In Beijing, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mihai Popsoi visited the Beijing Foreign Studies University – an elite institution where Romanian language and literature have been taught continuously for exactly 70 years.

The Chinese students who study Romanian welcomed the Moldovan official in a very special way, reciting with rare sensitivity the poem “In Your Language” by Grigore Vieru, as well as “Glossă” by Mihai Eminescu. Thousands of kilometers away from Moldova, the sacred verses about the mother tongue resounded flawlessly from the mouths of the Chinese students.

Deputy Prime Minister Mihai Popsoi was deeply impressed by the students’ level of preparation and by the respect they show for the Romanian literary heritage.

“At the Beijing Foreign Studies University, I had a very good discussion with the Chinese students who are learning Romanian. I was impressed by how beautifully and literarily they speak Romanian and by their accent. A special moment of the meeting was when they recited the poem ‘Glossă’ by Mihai Eminescu. We talked about the importance of education, of foreign languages and of cultural exchanges. I encouraged them to visit Moldova, in order to directly discover the culture, traditions and people of our country,” the deputy PM said.

The Beijing Foreign Studies University is a true cultural bridge between the two states, having trained over the past 70 years entire generations of specialists, translators and Chinese diplomats proficient in Romanian.

The Department of Romanian Language of this elite institution was established in 1956, being one of the oldest and most respected departments of its kind in all of Asia, and over the decades it has trained numerous generations of Chinese diplomats, translators and professors.