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BRAC University hosted Chinese Culture Day 2026 on its Merul Badda campus in Dhaka yerterday (Thursday, 3 September 2026), celebrating Chinese language and culture through a range of cultural performances and artistic expressions.
The event was organized by the BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL) in collaboration with the BRAC University Communication and Language Club. It aimed to foster intercultural dialogue, strengthen global connections and showcase the diversity of the university's academic community.
Li Shaopeng, cultural counselor at the embassy of China in Bangladesh, attended as a guest and said the celebration was a vivid testament to the shared effort to deepen mutual understanding and jointly advance a China-Bangladesh community with a shared future.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Syed Ferhat Anwar said Bangladesh-China academic exchanges date back nearly 1,000 years to the visit of Bengali Buddhist teacher and leader Atish Dipankar Srigyan to China in 1042 AD.
He noted that BRAC University has its own ties to China, as the Merul Badda campus was built by a joint venture between China's state-owned Beijing Urban Construction Group and Bangladeshi contractor Associated Builders Corporation Ltd.
"We (BRAC University and China) are in a way embedded together, our journey has already started together and we plan to pursue it further to materialize not just the well-being of Bangladesh and the people of Bangladesh but of this entire world for that matter," he said.
Treasurer Ariful Islam said that, following recent visits and the signing of a memorandum of understanding, BRAC University and Anhui Normal University in China had decided to establish a Bangladesh China Center for Language, Culture and Research at BRAC University.
“At the same time, we will also establish a Bangladesh Culture Cell at...Anhui Normal University, again based on our mutual vision of equity and reciprocity,” he added.
Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, adviser of BIL, said seven native and five non-native teachers had contributed to advancing Chinese language education at BRAC University, enabling around 4,000 students to complete graduate credit courses and another 2,000 to complete certificate courses.
Students and a faculty member performed Chinese songs and dances in traditional attire, along with staging demonstrations of tai chi and the guzheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument.
Professor Shaila Sultana, director of BIL, gave the vote of thanks.
Registrar Dr. David Dowland, Huang Moucong and Xia Daojing, second and third secretary respectively to the cultural section of the Chinese embassy in Bangladesh, Yang Hui, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dhaka, Ma Xiaoyan, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at North South University, and Khairul Basher, director of the Office of Communications, were also present.
The event reaffirmed BRAC University’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 4 (Quality Education) and Sustainable Development Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
