'The future is going to be Chinese'

COEUR d'ALENE — Matt Wappett said people are often surprised when a 6-foot-2 Caucasian male shows up to talk to them about Confucius.

But, as shocking as that is to some, the co-director of the University of Idaho's Confucius Institute said he has developed a strong connection with China from a lifetime of experience. On Friday afternoon, Wappett spoke to members of every Rotary Club in Kootenai County during a luncheon at the Hagadone Event Center in Coeur d’Alene.

“I look at the world my children are growing up in and realize that the world they're growing into is going to have a uniquely Asian feel," Wappett said. "The future is going to be Chinese."

All it takes to realize that reality, Wappett said, is to visit a Chinese city and see an apartment building that houses twice the number of people as the population of Moscow, Idaho.

"That's a wakeup call," he said.

The institute, housed within the university's administration building in Moscow, was founded in 2013 as a partnership with the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China. It's the first Confucius Institute in the state and Wappett said the mission of the institute is to further the understanding of Chinese language and culture, as well as foster economic development between the United States and China.

"The only way to avoid conflict with China in the future is to enhance our understanding of their culture and increase communication between the two countries," Wappett said. "It's essential to the mission and vision of the institute."

Wappett said the institute's goal is to be the leading center in the Pacific Northwest. As such, it is taking a two-pronged approach that encourages community participation in cultural programs and provides high quality language instruction.

"Everything we do needs to be in partnership," Wappett said, adding that the

institute has been tasked with expanding its reach to the Coeur d'Alene area.

One of the main areas of expansion into Kootenai County will be offering Chinese language courses at University of Idaho's extension campus in the Lake City. Wappett said the campus would begin offering the courses this spring, and that he was also meeting with representatives of the Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene school districts to discuss dual credit language and culture courses.

In 2017, the institute will host a Chinese Economic Delegation to help forge business connections with Idaho companies.

"This is a big part of what we can offer the community," Wappett said.

After his speech, Wappett provided attendees with an opportunity to ask questions. One individual, who stated he had studied Japanese, asked Wappett how much progress someone could make studying Chinese language for one year.

"Chinese is a lot easier to learn than other Asian dialects," Wappett responded, noting that there aren't challenges associated with learning other languages such as tenses and conjugation. "It's 5,000 years old and has achieved a certain efficiency in that period of time."