The Macao Scientific and Cultural Centre in Lisbon is arranging a series of lectures online about the purposes the Chinese language serves today in Portugal and Macao, Ponto Final reports.

The Macao newspaper says Sónia Ao Sio Heng, the director of University of Macau Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Teaching and Training Centre, will give the first lecture, about what the centre does and the difficulties of doing it.

The report says Sun Lam, a professor of Chinese language and civilization at the University of Minho in Portugal, will speak about the legacy of Portuguese sinologist and priest Joaquim Gonçalves.

Carlos Morais, the director of the branch of the Confucius Institute at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, will give a lecture about his experience of teaching Chinese there, the report says.

Also on the programme are talks about the teaching of the Chinese language at NOVA University Lisbon, Lusíada University, the University of Lisbon and the University of Coimbra, all in Portugal, Ponto Final says.