The Centre for Portuguese Studies of the Macao Polytechnic Institute recently held the “Online Conference on 60 Years of Portuguese Language Teaching in Higher Education in China” to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Portuguese studies in higher education institutions in China.  The conference aimed to assist the construction of the “International Portuguese Training Centre” and “Training Base of Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Talents” in Macao, and cultivate training a greater number of highly qualified Chinese-Portuguese bilingual talents in the countries along the “Belt and Road” and in the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”.  Many well-known domestic and overseas experts and scholars, literary translators and textbook editors from higher education institutions gathered in the cloud to provide suggestions for the development of Portuguese language teaching in China.  The event attracted over 800 applicants from Macao, Mainland China, Portugal, Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Hungary and other countries and regions, with overwhelming response.

At the “Online Conference on 60 Years of Portuguese Language Teaching in Higher Education in China”, Fan Xing of Peking University pointed out that literature is an important approach to understanding foreign languages ​​and cultures.  In recent years, the publications of Chinese translations of many Portuguese-speaking countries’ literary works have attracted increasing attention from Macao and Mainland China.  Xu Yixing of Shanghai International Studies University said that due to the epidemic this year, online courses have been widely used, the higher education institutions have used multimedia for Portuguese language teaching, and have carried out Portuguese online learning and seminar activities.  Yang Jing of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies pointed out that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a national key strategic development area.  The establishment of the “Greater Bay Area Portuguese Language Education Alliance” in June this year, marked the enhancement of the competitiveness of Portuguese language education in the Bay Area, helping to promote the integration and common development of Portuguese language education in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Margarete Schlatter of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil believed that in recent years the cooperation between Macao and Mainland China’s higher education institutions and Portuguese-speaking countries has been intensified, the student exchange mechanism has become more mature, and there has been increasing implementation of resource sharing and complementary advantages in multiple places.  Carlos André of the University of Coimbra in Portugal said that in the past ten years, with the growing economic and trade exchanges between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, many higher education institutions in China have opened Portuguese language majors.  Institutions continue to increase investment in Portuguese language teaching, the number of Portuguese language teachers is constantly increasing, and the level of academic qualifications is continuously improving. Portuguese language teaching in higher education institutions in China has developed rapidly in all aspects and has achieved remarkable results.

From 1960 to 2020, the teaching of Portuguese in higher education institutions in China has continued through 6 decades.  As a central city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and an important node of the “Belt and Road”, Macao has been assisting in the continuous development of Portuguese language teaching in China, demonstrating the advantages of Macao as the “platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries” and its important role as a link between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.