More than 800 people attended online a conference to mark 60 years of the teaching of the Portuguese language by institutions of higher education in Mainland China, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) says.

The MPI, the organiser, issued a written statement saying that among those attending the conference, which lasted from November 23 to December 3, were academics, translators or editors of teaching materials in Brazil, Britain, Mainland China, Hungary, Macao, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.

The institute says the event was meant to reinforce the position of Macao as an international centre for the teaching of Portuguese and for turning out people bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese.

The conference heard from one speaker that many Mainland Chinese universities now have programmes for teaching Portuguese that focus on economic engagement by China and the lusophone world; and from another that the newly-formed Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Alliance for the Teaching of the Portuguese Language can help integrate and develop the teaching of Portuguese in the area, the MPI statement says.