Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language in the world, is still an important part of constructing a shared future for mankind, an official from the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration said on Nov 9. 

Fang Zhenghui, vice president of the administration and vice chairman of the All-China Esperanto League, addressed the 13th China Congress of Esperanto, which was held in Shangyu district of Shaoxing, Zhejiang province from Nov 8-10, stressing further exploration into the original aspiration and mission of Chinese Esperantists.

"Global Esperantists are expected to unite as one to jointly promote the healthy development of Esperanto," said Fang, suggesting the activities give full play to the language's ability to strengthen cross-cultural exchange and spread Chinese culture around the world.

Over 240 experts, scholars and Esperanto lovers gathered in Shangyu, home of China's Esperanto pioneer Hu Yuzhi, to share insights into the development of the language. 

Chen Haosu, honorary advisor of the All-China Esperanto League, said China has made remarkable achievements since its founding 70 years ago, and its commitment to building a community with a shared future for mankind, which was proposed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, shed a light on the development direction of Esperanto.

Chen called for continued efforts by Chinese Esperantists to advance the use and promotion of the language while keeping its original purpose firmly in mind.

Organizations and individuals with outstanding performance in promoting and developing Esperanto in the last two years were commended at the congress.

Esperanto was created by Polish physician and linguist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 with the aim of creating an easy and flexible language that would serve as a universal second language to foster world peace and international understanding.

According to Duolingo, a language learning platform with free Esperanto courses, 1.17 million people across the world are learning Esperanto on the website.