After Sichuan University, the U’s sister school in China, felt the effects of the earthquake in May, the U Confucius Institute rallied people together to raise $3,000 to help victims recover from losses.
With the help of the School of Music, the Confucius Institute raised an additional $1,000 through a benefit concert Aug. 30.
The concert attracted about 100 people to Libby Gardner Concert Hall. The proceeds will be donated to the Sichuan University Scholarship Fund to help students whose families were displaced by the earthquake.
Johanna Smith, a Salt Lake resident, said she felt strongly about supporting the concert because education is part of the rebuilding process in China.
“Education is one of the most important things that we can do for our children (and) for the world,” Smith said. “Everything hinges on education.”
The partnership between the U and Sichuan University, which is facilitated by the Confucius Institute, was initiated in October 2007 with an agreement U President Michael Young signed.
The U Confucius Institute is one of 13 in the United States. As well as sponsoring the benefit concert, the Confucius Institute will donate an additional $2,000 dollars for earthquake relief out of its annual budget, which is supplemented by the Chinese government.
“We wanted to help the students (and) show a partnership and a friendship with our partner school,” said Fusheng Wu, director of the institute.
With the establishment of the institute, two Sichuan University teachers joined the U faculty.
Wei Su and Wen Cheng teach first- and second-year Chinese language courses, as well as continuing education classes on campus. At the beginning of the 2008 Fall Semester, Su and Cheng began teaching a Chinese class for Salt Lake City’s Chamber of Commerce.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 shook Sichuan University, located within Sichuan Province, on May 12, leaving 70,000 dead and millions homeless.
On the day of the concert, China experienced another earthquake, which measured 6.1 magnitude. The quake forced 40,000 people to evacuate in the Sichuan and neighboring Yunnan Provinces and killed 32. For Ning Lu, a pianist and associate professor in the School of Music, being part of the concert was a way he could help the Chinese people.
“We have to focus on helping these people…rebuild their live(s), have encouragement and look forward,” he said.
Lu organized the musical side of the concert, which featured Mozart’s “Sonata D, K. 448,” Chen Gang’s “The Butterfly Lovers,” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons.”
U faculty joined the Utah Symphony Orchestra, American West Symphony and Weber State University performers to play at the concert.
To make additional donations to the scholarship fund, contact Fusheng Wu at 801-581-6056.