Huang Pingan receives certificates from Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale at a ceremony last week. Provided to China Daily

After teaching English at Xi'an Jiaotong University in west China for more than 20 years, Huang Pingan's desire to promote Chinese language and culture became a reality when he was selected to serve as associate director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in March 2011.

Now not only have the students he has taught honored him but also the State of Nebraska, Governor Pete Ricketts proclaimed Feb 2 "Pingan Huang Day" for his distinguished accomplishments and urged "all citizens to take due note of the observance."

Recalling the past four years of working in this sparsely-populated state, Huang considered his work as "meaningful" and "enjoyable." Every year, around 8,000 students are enrolled in the institute's classes, despite the limited demand on Chinese education.

"The thought has lingered in my head since I was an English major student: When can people across the world learn Chinese as we learn English?" Huang said, in a telephone interview. "The Sino-foreign cultural exchange should be balanced and two-way, however, I feel what we Chinese understand the world much more than the world understands us."

He believes culture can be more easily learned through language at an early age. "In China, English is now taught at primary schools, and even some kindergartens," he said,."That's why we understand the English culture better than the English-speaking people understand ours."

In the state capital of Lincoln, two of the institute's 15 Chinese teachers are assigned to teach at each primary school for six weeks a semester, which means all the students have a chance to learn Chinese, Huang said. The classes are not formal language teaching, but introduce Chinese culture and simple language through Chinese painting and music, he explained.

Besides Lincoln in the eastern part of the state, Huang also reached out to cities in the middle and western parts, trying to establish Chinese classes there. With concerted efforts from local school districts, a high school and a middle school in Scottsbluff and another high school in North Platte began offering Chinese language classes in the fall of 2011. "Now some 200 students in the three schools are taking Chinese classes for academic credit," he said.

Huang also emphasizes the role of a cordial relationship in effectively promoting cultural exchanges

As the governor said in his proclamation last week, "Pingan Huang has worked to foster meaningful relationships and create deeper understanding among Chinese and American students, staff, faculty and citizens by developing Chinese language courses maintaining quality of all language teaching activities."

"Nebraska is a reserved agricultural state; the people here have limited knowledge of China," said Huang. "We try to design our courses and lectures according to their specific needs."

The courses, designed at elementary, intermediate and advanced levels, range from Chinese language to Chinese painting, dancing and cooking. The students include university students, children and retired people from local communities.

Huang also lectures at the university. With the increasing number of Chinese students coming to study in Nebraska, his lectures have become very popular. "The most popular one is on Chinese names, since the Chinese pronunciation is difficult," Huang said. "The lecture on Chinese characters and outlook of values also receives positive feedback from the counselors in dealing with Chinese students' mental health issues."

To help local people better understand China, the Confucius Institute has organized several "culture-experience" trips to China, with participants including State Secretary John Gale, school district officials, school masters and teachers.

"We have received unexpected results from the trips," said Huang. "The Lincoln school district superintendent has given us exceptional support like attending our Chinese classes and cultural activities, and promoting our Confucius Institute."

Horace Marvin Almy, 69, is also one of the beneficiaries of those trips. "We saw awesome constructions and took a bullet train. It confirms our impression of China from pictures first-hand," he told China Daily.

A member of the advisory council of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a partner of the Confucius Institute, Almy also co-sponsored the trip last May. "It's an awesome learning experience, which added to our understanding of the Chinese culture," he added.

Huang hopes such cultural experience trips can be organized after he leaves to resume his English teaching job in Xi'an.

"The connections and experience that I acquired here in Nebraska will definitely help in promoting the cultural exchanges between Chinese and American people in China," he said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com