The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) co-organised an online conference on teaching Chinese as a second language, held on 15 and 16 December 2022, with Swarthmore College in the United States, The University of Hong Kong, Taiwan Normal University, and Kaohsiung Normal University. The conference, themed ‘Innovation for Diversity and Inclusion’, attracted around 200 participants, including scholars and teachers from local and overseas. Its aim was to explore innovations in theory, research and pedagogy of international Chinese language education. 

EdUHK President Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Vice President (Academic) and Provost Professor John Lee Chi-kin, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Professor John Nguyet Erni and Acting Head at the Department of Chinese Language Studies (CHL) Dr Liang Yuan officiated at the conference and delivered their opening remarks. 
Professor Cheung said that EdUHK was committed to developing programmes to meet community needs, providing professional pedagogy training and content knowledge to university graduates who wish to embark on a career in teaching Chinese as a second language.

Professor Lee mentioned that the University nurtures educators and social leaders who are intellectually active, socially caring, and globally aware of becoming agents of change in their communities. 

Professor Erni believed the conference provided a platform for international scholars and teachers to discuss theoretical advancements and cutting-edge research, and helped facilitate insightful conversations between the participants.  

Dr Liang introduced the philosophy of CHL and the highlighted sessions of the conference to the attendees.

Professor Li Guofang from the University of British Columbia, Professor Liu Yongcan from the University of Cambridge, Professor Sun Maosong from Tsinghua University, and Dr Liang Yuan from EdUHK delivered keynote speeches. They covered teaching Chinese as a second language and heritage language; combining big data and artificial intelligence with international Chinese language teaching; and handwriting of Chinese characters, one of the significant challenges of teaching Chinese language. The two-day conference comprised four panel discussions and 18 sessions, with almost 90 paper presentations. 

Launched in 2015, the International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language is an annual event in the field of teaching Chinese as a second language, with the purpose of providing an international platform for academic communications among teachers, researchers, scholars, and educators from all over the world. The 8th conference will be hosted by Swarthmore College in 2023.