China's first Esperanto museum opens 中国的第一家世界语博物馆揭牌成立

JINAN, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's first Esperanto museum has officially opened after more than two years of construction to promote the "universal language".

济南11月18日 - 经过两年多的建设，中国的第一家世界语博物馆已经正式揭牌成立，以促进“通用语言”的发展。

The Esperanto Museum, in Zaozhuang University in east China's Shandong Province, opened Saturday after hosting more than 7,000 visitors during a trial operation since May.

这所世界语博物馆自五月起试运行以来已接待了7000多名游客，并于周六在中国东部山东省的枣庄学院成立。

With a display area covering 680 square meters, the museum is the largest of its kind in Asia, said Sun Mingxiao, who is in charge of the facility.

博物馆的设施负责人孙明孝表示，这座博物馆展陈面积为680万平方米，是亚洲目前最大的世界语博物馆。

It boasts more than 26,000 items, including books, newspapers, photographs and manuscripts. The majority of them were donated by Esperantonists from more than 40 countries or regions.

该博物馆馆藏量达2.6万件，包括书、报纸、照片和手写本。其中大部分是来自40多个国家和地区的世界语者的捐赠。

Chen Haosu, head of the All-China Esperanto League, said the mission of the museum is to record the history of Esperanto, promote the culture of the artificial language and its development.

中华全国世界语协会会长陈昊苏说，该博物馆的使命是记录世界语的历史、促进人工语言的文化和它的发展。

The museum was jointly built by Zaozhuang University and the All-China Esperanto League at a cost of 3 million yuan (490,000 U.S. dollars).

这座博物馆由枣庄学院和中华全国世界语协会花费300万元人民币（合49万美元）合作建立。

Esperanto-related activities began in the university in the 1980s. Esperanto became an optional course in the college in 2011, attracting more than 500 students so far.

世界语相关的活动在枣庄学院开始于20世纪80年代。世界语在2011年成为该学院的一门选修课程，目前为止已有500多名学生选修了这门课程。

Up till now, about 400,000 Chinese have learned Esperanto, according to Sun.

孙明孝表示，到目前为止，已有超过40万人学习世界语。

Esperanto was created by Polish doctor L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 and introduced to China in the early 1990s.

世界语是波兰医生柴门霍夫在1887年创立的，并在20世纪90年代初引入中国。