Beida, as it is commonly referred to, is one of UH' s most active partnerships.

"The international relationship between the University of Hawai'i and Peking University has been a long and very productive one, dating back to 1988,"McClain said in a UH news release.

On Oct. 31, the President and Beijing Foreign Studies University President Hao Ping penned a three-year Basic Agreement of Cooperation on behalf of the UH System. During the ceremony, a Student Exchange Agreement was also signed between UH Manoa and Beiwai, as it is known.

Beiwai is also a partner with the Manoa campus' Center for Chinese Studies in the Confucius Institute, one of only 11 in the United States and one of 100 worldwide, which was established in January 2007. Support for the Institute comes through the National Office of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in the Chinese Ministry of Education. The Institute's aim is to train teachers of Chinese language and culture.

The ceremonies were witnessed by a UH delegation of faculty and administrators attending the Beijing Forum. Included were financial economics professor Rosita Chang (currently serving as the director of the Center for Chinese Studies), philosophy professor Roger Ames (former Center director), Dean Christine Sorensen of the UHM College of Education, and UHM COE Professors Xu Di, and Gail Tamaribuchi. The UH Foundation was represented by President and CEO Donna Vuchinich and Mangmang Brown, Director of International Engagement.

The Beijing Forum is an annual symposium co-sponsored by Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. Organizers describe its aim as being "to promote academic development and social progress in the Asia-Pacific region and the world in order to contribute to the development and prosperity of humankind."