Mao added that she studied Arabic for four years in China and one year in Egypt's Alexandria University. She is interested in visiting Egyptian museums to learn more about the Egyptian civilization and culture.

For her part, Nahed Abdullah, Egyptian professor of Chinese language and head of the Chinese department at the Faculty of Arts of Alexandria University, said that the Chinese department has just been opened with 58 Egyptian students and the number is expected to gradually increase

"We have for example about 400 junior students of Chinese language at Ain Shams University in the capital Cairo," she noted.

Abdullah revealed that there are current plans to establish a Confucius Institute for teaching Chinese language in Alexandria University to be the fourth one in Egypt.

"The establishment of a Chinese department in the Faculty of Arts is the nucleus for the future establishment of a Confucius Institute," she added.

At the right side of the hall, a photo gallery was held to narrate, in black-and-white and colored pictures with captions, the stages of China's development and opening up over the past four decades.

The exhibition included another photo gallery held by Egyptians, named "China in the Eyes of Visitors," where four young people working for Alexandria province portrayed their experiences in the places they stopped at during their visit to China last October.

"I have taken these pictures in the Chinese capital Beijing, Shanghai municipality and Jiangxi Province to register what drew my attention in China for better understanding of the Chinese culture," Asma Mahdy said.