Italian Guangzhou Consul General Visits Zhaoqing University

On Dec 13^th, 2007, Mr. Paolo Miraglia del Giudice, Consul General of Italian General Consulate in Guangzhou, paid a visit to Zhaoqing University. He was welcomed by President He Fei, who briefed the cooperation projects between Zhaoqing University and Italian counterpart, the University of Naples Parthenope. The discussions were focused on the joined research projects on Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary who stepped on the soil of Zhaoqing in 1583 and contributed tremendously to the spread of western culture towards China. Matteo Ricci has been credited “the first person to connect western cultures with the Chinese”, and Zhaoqing University scholars have published essays on different aspects of Ricci’s achievement and influence to the Chinese culture. Zhaoqing University also successfully hosted the “First Matteo Ricci and Sino-western Cultural Exchange Symposium” in December 2006.

President He has also indicated the University’s plan of building a “Matteo Ricci International Academic Research Center” on campus, to provide the platform of pooling resources of the researches and exhibiting the historical relics in the venue.

Mr. Paolo Miraglia was delighted by the progress in the joined ties between Zhaoqing and Italy and highly praised the efforts. The consul general also expressed full support in the future for the related projects. Mr. Paolo Miraglia also visited the reserved site for the Matteo Ricci International Research Center, and went through the University History Gallery with high spirit.