A total of 475 Confucius Institutes and 851 Confucius Classrooms were set up worldwide by the end of 2014, Xu Lin, director of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and director-general of China's Hanban, said Sunday.
The institutes and classrooms were built in 126 countries and regions with the U.S. having the largest number, with 108 institutes and 451 classrooms, according to statistics announced at a Confucius Institute conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday.
Xu said the rapid development is encouraging, saying that the first Confucius Institute was opened in the University of Maryland in 2004.
"The Confucius Institute is a bridge for connection, a platform for dialogue and communication," said Xu. "It promotes mutual respect and understanding among different cultures and promotes world peace through mutual exchanges."
