Dragon Boat Festival promotes immersion in Chinese culture at IMPA Tech
Inaugural event marks start of partnership with PUC-Rio’s Confucius Institute
9/6/2025
Open your wings to Chinese culture! The traditional “Dragon Boat Festival” delighted IMPA Tech students and provided an immersion in typical oriental culture last Friday (6) at Maravalley Port. The event was held in partnership with PUC-Rio’s Confucius Institute, marking the beginning of a collaboration between the institutions.
The aim of the agreement, which is in the final stages of negotiation, is educational cooperation with an emphasis on the dissemination of Chinese language and culture. The agreement provides for the teaching of the Chinese language to IMPA Tech students, through extension courses scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025. The idea is that learning the language will give graduates greater opportunities in the job market and exchange possibilities, for example.
“We’re aiming for a partnership to provide IMPA Tech students with Chinese language teaching, with a view to bringing them closer to Chinese companies based in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. We are also looking to create exchange opportunities for our students, also with universities in China,” explained Marcelo Viana, IMPA’s director-general.
Nara Bobko, IMPA Tech’s academic manager, celebrated the partnership with the Confucius Institute. “We would like to thank Confucius immensely for organizing this event, which gives us the opportunity to get to know such rich aspects of Chinese culture more closely, while at the same time strengthening the ties between our institutions – ties that are heading towards a promising partnership.”
The Brazilian director of the Confucius Institute, Leonardo Bérenger, also celebrated the agreement with IMPA Tech: “I would always like to leave the Confucius Institute’s doors more than open to all of you, IMPA Tech students, who, in a way, by taking our courses, our Chinese courses, also become students of the Institute.” Bérenger shares the direction of the program with Chinese professor Sun Yanping, who was present at the event.
At the inaugural event, the students learned about the history, signs and symbols behind the Festival, especially the career of the Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan, who is honored at the celebration. The event was also marked by a lot of interaction. The undergraduates had fun with typical Chinese challenges and games, ancestral rituals and even tried one of the festival’s culinary specialties, “zongzi”, which are rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves.
Student Yasmin Monteiro praised the cultural plurality of the event. “It was really nice. We tasted zongzi, which is a traditional Chinese food, learned a bit more about the history of the Dragon Boat and the importance of this holiday. I took part in the quiz and even won a gift.”
Before arriving at IMPA Tech, Yasmin had contact with the work of the Confucius Institute at Unicamp’s technical college. Now, she is excited about the possibility of continuing her studies in Mandarin. “This partnership with the Confucius Institute is a great opportunity for IMPA Tech. I’ve already taken Mandarin classes at my old school and the classes are very good. I hope that other events will arise from this partnership, I want to continue learning and taking part in the festivals. It’s important to have contact with other cultures,” she concluded.
