To mark the 55th anniversary of China-Belgium diplomatic relations, H.E. Mr. Bruno Angelet, Belgian Ambassador to China, and his four-member delegation visited Beijing Administration Institute (BAI) on April 8.

The delegation paid homage to the tombs of Belgian missionaries Ferdinand Verbiest and Antoine Thomas. The visit was hosted by Shen Jie, Executive Vice President of BAI, and Li Yunchi, Vice President of BAI. Professor Chen Xinyu gave a detailed briefing on the two missionaries’contributions to Sino-Western cultural exchanges.

The two missionaries resided in China for decades during the Qing Dynasty. They accomplished remarkable feats in astronomy and brought Western science to ancient China. Beijing Administration Institute preserves 63 tombstones of foreign missionaries, serving as valuable testimony to 400 years of exchanges between Chinese and Western civilizations.

By Liu Xiaoyun