Photo: Collected

DHAKA, Sept 3, 2026 (BSS) - BRAC University today celebrated Chinese Culture Day 2026 and Chinese language and culture through a range of events on its Merul Badda campus in the city.

The BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL), in collaboration with the BRAC University Communication and Language Club, arranged the event, which aimed to foster intercultural dialogue, strengthen global connections and showcase the diversity of the university's academic community, said a press release.

Li Shaopeng, cultural counsellor at the Embassy of China in Bangladesh, attended the function 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.

Speaking on the occasion, BRAC University 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 the entire world for that matter," the VC said.

BRAC University 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 to BIL, also spoke at the event, while Professor Shaila Sultana, director of BIL, gave the vote of thanks.

BRAC University Registrar Dr David Dowland, Huang Moucong and Xia Daojing, second and third secretaries, respectively, of 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.