Chinese Language Day
A UN day celebrating Chinese, one of the six official UN languages, and its rich cultural heritage.
Date20 April
TopicCulture & Heritage
Established2010
Ways to observe this day
- Learn a few basic Chinese words or characters
- Attend a cultural event on Chinese calligraphy or classical literature
- Watch a film or read a translated work of Chinese literature
- Learn about the history of Chinese writing and share it with your kids
The UN Department of Public Information (now the Department of Global Communications) launched Chinese Language Day in 2010, as part of an initiative celebrating each of the UN's six official languages and promoting multilingualism and cultural diversity within the organization. April 20 was chosen to roughly coincide with the traditional Chinese solar term "Guyu," which honors Cangjie, the legendary figure credited with inventing Chinese characters some 5,000 years ago.
The day aims to deepen global understanding of Chinese, the language with the largest number of native speakers in the world, and to showcase its rich literary and philosophical heritage spanning thousands of years. It also highlights Chinese as one of the UN's six official languages, alongside Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
UN offices around the world mark the day with calligraphy exhibitions, poetry and music evenings, cultural and language competitions, and educational events encouraging young people of all nationalities to learn Chinese.
