A Chinese Cultural Zone was opened at the Hamdan Bin Zayed School in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, on Dec 9.

The Chinese Embassy in the UAE funded the cultural zone.

Chinese Ambassador to the UAE Chang Hua, who officiated at the opening ceremony, said cooperation in education between the two nations is progressing, with an increasing number of Chinese students going to study in the UAE.

The country provides donations to China for the establishment of the UAE Arabic Teaching and Arabic Islamic Research Center at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

China has also established two Confucius Institutes in the UAE University.

The Hamdan Bin Zayed School was established in 2006, and is the only public elementary school in the Middle East that uses Chinese to teach.

The Chinese embassy donated Chinese musical instruments, clothing, bilingual books and atlases to the school at the ceremony.