Good afternoon! Welcome to the Chinese Embassy.
Let me express my gratitude, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in India, to teachers and students for receiving our invitation to participate in the "Tiangong Dialogue" which is organized by China's SCO Committee on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, China Manned Space Agency and the SCO Secretariat to enable students from SCO countries to talk with Taikonauts of Shenzhou-15. The main venue today is in Beijing, China, where we will interact with the Chinese taikonauts in the Tiangong space station through a video link. We will be joined by teachers and students from other SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners. The Chinese Taikonauts will answer the most popular questions through this virtual dialogue.
The Chinese space dream dates back thousands of years. Some of you may hear about the mythical story of Chang'e flying to the moon and the Flying Apsaras of Dunhuang which are household stories in China. From the successful launch of the first man-made satellite "Dong Fang Hong-1" in 1970, the launch of "Chang'e", "Zhurong" and "Xihe " and other spacecrafts flying to the Moon, Mars and the Sun, to the current taikonauts crew of Shenzhou-15 who have been living in orbit for more than four months, we have achieved a number of milestones including scientific experiments, technical tests, crew out-of-cabin activities and cargo out-of-cabin missions. China's space industry has made historic accomplishment and achieved leapfrog development which accelerated its march to a space power.
The Indian "space dream" has a long history as well. About 4,000 years ago, the Rig Veda of ancient India touched upon with astronomy. The carved figures in ancient rock paintings found in central India which are even shown wearing space suits are astonishing. About 3,000 years ago, India had its own calendar and created its cosmology. Last month, my colleagues and I visited the Jantar Manta Observatory in Jaipur, a World Heritage Site built in early 18th Century to showcase the high level of Indian traditional science, which was very impressive. India is the sixth country in the world to launch a satellite in geosynchronous orbit on its own, the first in Asia and the fourth in the world to successfully explore Mars. It shocked the world with its record-breaking launch of 104 satellites on one rocket.
As two neighboring ancient civilizations and the two largest developing countries and representatives of emerging economies with a combined population of 2.8 billion, both China and India are committed to national development and rejuvenation. Both countries are members of the SCO and BRICS and have great potential for exchange and cooperation in the fields of economy, social development, education, science and technology including space technology. In May last year, the BRICS Joint Commission on Space Cooperation was formally established and will carry out high-level cooperation in areas such as environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, and climate change, which will further promote exchange and cooperation in space science and technology among BRICS countries including India and China.
Today happens to be the United Nations "International Chinese Language Day". Since 2010, the UN has designated "Chinese Language Day" on "Grain Rain", one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese calendar,to commemorate the contribution of Cang Jie, for his creation of Chinese characters. Today, we have prepared calligraphy brushes, ink and paper for practising Chinese writing. The books are free to take with you. As some Indian schools have been offering Chinese language courses. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone engaged in Chinese teaching and learning.
Chinese language is spoken by the largest number of people in the world and inherited for thousands of years. Chinese characters have unique meanings and exquisite combinations. The vocabularies of Tiangong, Shenzhou, Bridge of Magpies, and Chang'e all correspond to ancient Chinese mythologies. The core module where our astronauts live in the space station is called “Tianhe”, which means "peace", "harmony" and "the unity of Heaven and Humanity". They are not only beautiful Chinese names, but also visions to explore the universe in pursuit of utilizing the space peacefully. These implications can hardly be understood only by reading Pinyin. I hope you could learn more Chinese characters for a better understanding of the culture and philosophy behind these names.
The theme of this year's Chinese Language Day is “Facilitating Dialogues across Civilizations”，which is in line with this event today. The "Tiangong Dialogue", which is held among young people from SCO countries, is also a vivid "dialogue among civilizations" providing a unique platform for people to get to know each other and promote language and cultural exchanges and cooperation.
I wish this kind of events bring you more knowledge about Chinese culture, bridge our two peoples with your friendship and wisdom, and promote exchanges among civilisations for a bright future for all.
Thank you.
