BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) plans to establish four Confucius Institutes in Europe, to expand its teaching of Chinese language and culture abroad.

    "These will be our first overseas Confucius Institutes," said Zhang Xiping, director of overseas sinology. "We have been introducing foreign languages and cultures into China, now we are more active in teaching our own language and culture."

    The BFSU is a leading university of foreign languages in China, teaching 42 foreign languages. It will jointly set up a Confucius Institute with Germany's University of Erlangen-Nuremberg on May 2, and then three others in Italy and Belgium.

    BFSU president Hao Ping told a symposium on the theme of "the Chinese dream and a harmonious world" that the university would try to share Chinese culture with people in other countries.

    The Confucius Institute program was designed by the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language to promote Chinese teaching abroad with qualified teachers and good learning materials.

    The first overseas Confucius Institute opened in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, in 2004. Europe's first Confucius Institute was established in Stockholm University, Sweden, in February 2005. Enditem