When Is World Chinese Language Day? Celebrate 12th UN Chinese Language Day in 2021 with China's GuYu As Well

What is "World Chinese Language Day"? When?

关于“世界中文日”
[Shì jiè zhōng wén rì]

The "World Chinese Language Day", or known as "World Chinese Day" for short, is officially set up as the "UN Chinese Language Day" by the UN (The United Nation Organization) and initially launched in 2010, a fixed day to celebrate beautiful and rich cultural Chinese language and its equal use as one of six official working languages throughout the UN Organization.

世界中文日 (Shì jiè zhōng wén rì)，又称“中文语言日” (Zhōng wén yǔ yán rì)，全名为“联合国中文语言日” (Zhōng wén yǔ yán rì)，是由联合国新闻部自 2010 年发起并主办中文语言庆祝日，是六种联合国正式语言的庆祝日之一。

When is World Chinese Language Day to Celebrate? And Why?

中文日日期及由来 [Rì qī jí yóu lái]

The UN Chinese Language Day is officially set up on April 20 on the solar calendar, every year, which in the case of 2021 is right coincident with the traditional solar term "GuYu" in China, known as the Grain Rain day, the 6th of the 24 Chinese Solar Terms based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

世界中文日的正式日期固定设立在每年的 4 月 20 日。而 2021 年 4 月 20 日的中文日，恰逢这一年的中国第六个传统二十四节气“谷雨”这天。

The date selection of World Chinese Language Day that roughly corresponds with GuYu accounts for the legends of Chinese Characters' origin. Among a variety of Chinese legends and myths, it is prevailing for a long time that Chinese Characters (identified as Pictographs) were initially invented by Cangjie around GuYu over five thousand years ago, who was an official historian of the Yellow Emperor in ancient China. To honor Cangjie's creation of Chinese Characters, the April 20 day has been accordingly set up as the celebration day of the Chinese language annually after 2010.

联合国设立的中文日时间，与中国节气“谷雨”重合，并非巧合，其实是与中国汉字的起源传说相关。在中国多种汉字起源说中，流传最广的是来自中国古书上关于“仓颉造字” (Cāng jié zào zì) 的记载。相传最早最原始的中国汉字（中国象形文字）是由五千多年前的古代史官仓颉在“谷雨”时节创造而成。因此，自 2011 年起，世界“中文语言日”都定在 4 月 20 日阳历这一天。

Celebrate 12th UN/World Chinese Language Day in 2021 with China's GuYu

庆祝 2021年世界中文日

To celebrate UN/World Chinese Language Day 2021, the 12th World Chinese Language Day, UNSRC Chinese Book Club from UN Headquarter in NewYork is organizing three events under the theme "Highlight Pictographs", focusing on three types of Chinese pictographs (Liangzhu Inscribed Symbols, Dongba Script, and Oracle Bone Script), Chinese cultures behind and China's three World Heritage sites associated with Chinese Pictographs.

为庆祝2021年联合国中文日，第 12 个中文日，位于纽约联合国总部的“联合国中国书会”组织举办三场以“聚焦象形文字”为主题的庆祝活动，聚焦三种中国象形文字（良渚文化刻画符号、东巴文和甲骨文），文字背后的中文文化，以及与之相关的三个世界遗产地。

Moreover, it's available to watch CGTN's one-hour video program on celebrating Chinese Language Day and the first Chinese Language Video Festival overseas on its YouTube channel here: UN Chinese Language Day: Chinese as a language of hope and prosperity.

点击可观看 CGTN (中国中央电视台 CCTV 中文国际频道) 发布在 YouTube 英语频道上的“2021年联合国中文日活动暨中央广播电视总台首届海外影像节”特别节目。

Full Six UN Language Days and Their Dates

六个联合国语言日及日期

The full six official working languages using at the UN include Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic.

中文、英文、法文、俄文、西班牙文和阿拉伯文是联合国的六种正式用语。

In consequence, the following World Language Days are established in order to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all these six languages throughout the UN Organization, and their dates below in sequence:

联合国为庆祝和促进这六种官方语言的平等使用及文化多样性而启动如下六个联合国语言日，日期依次如下：

The UN French Language Day: March 20th, Annually.

世界法语（法文）日： 每年 3 月 20 日

The UN Chinese Language Day: April 20th, Annually.

世界中文日： 每年 4 月 20 日

The UN English Language Day: April 23rd, Annually.

世界英语（英文）日： 每年 4 月 23 日

The UN Russian Language Day: June 6th, Annually.

世界俄语（俄文）日： 每年 6 月 6 日

The UN Spanish Language Day: October 12th, Annually.

世界西语（西班牙文）日： 每年 10 月 12 日

The UN Arabic Language Day: December 18th, Annually.

世界阿拉伯语（阿拉伯文）日： 每年 12 月 18 日

Enjoy!