The Hubei People’s Congress representatives visit the Macao Polytechnic Institute

Mr. Tan Huizai, member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei People’s Congress (“HPC”) and member-president of the Committee of Ethnicity, Religion, Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs under the HPC, leading a group of six other representatives, visited the Macao Polytechnic Institute (“MPI” or the “Institute”) on 19 March 2017, Sunday, and was warmly received by Professor Lei Heong Iok, the MPI president, and Professor Im Sio Kei, the MPI vice-president, in the company of the teaching staff and the students, especially the outstanding ones from the Hubei province.

During the discussion, Professor Lei Heong Iok said that the Institute had been entrusted by the Secretary for Social and Cultural Affairs of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (the “Government”) with nurturing Portuguese-speaking talents for Hubei, supporting the province to more effectively participate in the Sino-Lusophone economic and trade relationship, and facilitating the implementation of the “One Belt One Road” national strategy. For the second consecutive year, the Institute has admitted Hubei students of an exemplary character coupled with an excellent academic performance, whose scores in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination exceeded the marks set for admission to the top universities. Now, their number at MPI has increased to more than a dozen, and they have been studying the MPI’s bachelor programmes and majoring in Sino-Lusophone trade relations, Chinese-Portuguese translation and interpretation, Chinese-English translation and interpretation, accounting, and management. As to the first four outstanding Hubei students whom MPI admitted last academic year, they have progressed to their sophomore year and are currently doing their exchange study in Portugal as part of their degree programmes. These Hubei students have been studying hard, in the hope of becoming Chinese-Portuguese bilinguals one day and fostering the cultural and economic cooperation between Hubei and the Lusophone countries.

Mr. Tan Huizai greatly appreciated that the outstanding Hubei students were given the opportunity of coming to Macao for higher education under the unqualified support from the Government and the Institute. He encouraged the students to continue to focus on their study and attain academic achievement so that they would become all-rounded talents capable of furthering the Sino-Lusophone economic and trade relationship.

In response, the Hubei students expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the visiting representatives for the latter’s care and support, and to the Government and the Institute for the opportunity of studying in Macao. The Hubei students were deeply impressed by the Institute’s learning environment, and complimented the Institute on its ideal learning atmosphere. They promised to continue studying hard and leverage the opportunity at the Institute to ascend to a brighter future, and contribute to the betterment of Hubei and our country.

After the discussion, the Hubei representatives took a guided tour of MPI’s campus on Rua de Luis Gonzaga Gomes, understanding the progress of its research and development projects, such as the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory and the MPI-Melco Gaming and Entertainment Information Technology Research and Development Centre.

The other Hubei representatives were:

• Wang Chuanya, Vice-Inspector of the Office for the Standing Committee of the HPC;
• Ma Aiguo, Vice-Inspector of the Overseas Chinese Office (Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office) of Hubei Province;
• Li Chuanwen, Member-President of the Committee of Ethnicity, Religion, Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs of the Yichang People’s Congress;
• Chen Wen, Director of the Office for the Committee of Ethnicity, Religion, Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs under the HPC;
• Zhe Cuihua, Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Department of the Overseas Chinese Office (Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office) of Hubei Province; and
• Liu Junqing, Researcher of the Office for the Standing Committee of the HPC

The research team of the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory explain its operation to the visiting representatives

The research team of the MPI-Melco Gaming and Entertainment Information Technology Research and Development Centre explains its operation to the visiting representatives

Mr. Tan Huizai, member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei People’s Congress (“HPC”) and member-president of the Committee of Ethnicity, Religion, Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs under the HPC, (middle), learns about the campus life of the outstanding Hubei students