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The formal opening ceremony was preceded by a meeting hosted by Professor Oleg Polukhin, Rector of BNRU, and attended by guests of honour, Counsellor to the Chinese Ambassador Yu Jihai, and his colleague Under-secretary Wang Hui. The Rector began his address by recounting the history of the University's successes in its relations with Chinese academia over many years, with seven partnership agreements currently running. He went on to enthuse,

“Here at Belgorod National Research University we are currently teaching twelve foreign languages. These include Chinese, which is in great demand and increasingly popular. In the last three years, more than forty of our students of Chinese have been lucky enough to participate in an exchange program with our partner universities. The opening of this Centre signifies our commitment to making sure Chinese students have the same opportunity here, and is a necessity for a forward-thinking university like ours.”

The Rector went on to thank the Chinese Embassy for their active support in the development and realisation of the project.

Next, Counsellor Yu, said that the embassy would continue to support the Centre, as a valuable tool for educating the young people of China and Russia in each others culture and language, explaining,

“2018-2019 were declared 'Years of Cooperation' by the leadership of our countries. Closer Regional ties were a declared aim, and the opening of language and cultural centres is a tangible demonstration of one aspect of this. We are pleased that Belgorod National Research University has taken such an initiative.”

After cutting the ribbon on the Centre, Counsellor Yu commented to the assembled staff and students that this Centre was a great way to promote and popularise Chinese language, and introduce students to Chinese culture. He expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the university for their assistance in developing of friendly relations between Russia and China.
The guests then toured the 'Algorithm for Success' ��è��Ƶal Complex, which is supported by BNRU. Zhao Pengbo, a postgraduate at the Institute for Cross-Cultural Communication, has been teaching Chinese to schoolchildren at the Complex, run by Natalya Siyanko. The Complex is currently teaching Chinese to 80 children, and enthusiasm for Chinese is at an all time high in Belgorod. Mr Zhao will run the new Centre upon the completion of his studies.