Mr. Cheng Beiping, Secretary-General of WAAMA

Chinese culture is long-standing and well-established as well as extensive and profound. Many overseas Chinese have promoted traditional Chinese culture abroad, including Chinese drawing & calligraphy, traditional folk music, Confucianism and Taoism philosophy and eight Chinese cuisines, making great contributions to enhancing the appeal of Chinese culture and explaining and introducing excellent culture acorss the world. Today, the abacus undertaking, as a representative of excellent traditional Chinese cultures as well as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, has ushered in a good opportunity for development. Originating a thousand years ago, the abacus system contains ceaseless mathematical wisdom of the Chinese nation; up to today, abacus and mental arithmetic education has been empowered with unique value of improving children’s mathematical and cognitive abilities. Abacus undertaking has attracted wide attention and gained great popularity on today’s world cultural and educational stage. For this reason, we should firmly grasp new opportunities brought by international cultural exchanges on the world’s abacus and mental arithmetic cause, and, building on the good momentum, further promote the inheritance and protection of abacus intangible cultural heritage, develop the education and enlightenment function of abacus and mental arithmetic for application, and foster good results in the international dissemination of abacus skill.

“Whenever the abacus rings, enormous wealth flows through our fingers.” When it comes to abacus, we tend to think of the following scene: A person holding the abacus and silently reciting the formula quickly counts beads with fingers, with the sound he makes generating a lively scene. Then, in an instant, it returns to quiet and he tells the calculation result from the abacus. With the abacus, we can not only add, subtract, multiply and divide, but also perform powers and roots of numbers, higher order equations and other operations; the abacus system based on abacus hardware and supported by formula software has assumed important computing functions since the Tang and Song dynasties, and trained a large number of accounting professionals in the modern and contemporary age. Up to now, though its calculation function has been used less due to the popularity of computers, the abacus as an important symbol of national identity, the abacus skill as an excellent representative of traditional culture, and the abacus and mental arithmetic as a powerful tool for education and enlightenment, have attracted more and more attention from global Chinese and even people around the world. “Chinese abacus” with cultural deposits of thousands of years has begun to glow with vigor worldwide.

Abacus skill can be said as an excellent representative of traditional Chinese mathematics. With distinctive characteristics of algorithmization and mechanization, it has established a powerful and versatile algorithm system, contributing unique paths and original innovation results to the development of mathematics in the world. For thousands of years, abacus that boasts rich practical computing techniques has been meeting the computing needs of Chinese people in economic life. In October 2002, the founding conference of the World Association of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic (hereinafter: “WAAMA”) was held in Beijing, attended by 450 representatives from 17 countries and regions around the world. With the organizational structure and guarantee, the world abacus and mental arithmetic cause embraced a rapid development stage. On December 4, 2013, UNESCO officially included Chinese Abacus Skill in the “List of Masterpieces of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity”, claiming that it provided “another knowledge system” for the world. Firmly adhering to the important position of abacus as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, WAAMA organized a series of activities in terms of theoretical research, competition appraisal and academic exchanges, which contributed to the promotion and communication of Chinese abacus culture as well as the healthy development of the abacus and mental arithmetic cause in the world.

WAAMA now has 50 members from 17 countries and regions around the world. As a joint organization of international non-governmental education and research groups on abacus and mental arithmetic, WAAMA has made positive contributions to promoting abacus culture, protecting traditional intangible cultural heritage and deepening international exchanges. In Asian countries and regions such as China, Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Lebanon; American countries such as Canada, USA and Mexico; European countries such as the United Kingdom and Russia; Australian countries such as Australia and Tonga……, children of different cultures, nationalities and colors use the abacus as a learning tool. “Lightning calculation” and “mind-brain quick calculation” help children calculate numbers fast and accurately, while “binary number representation” and “symbolic-graphic combination” effectively improve children’s calculation and cognitive transfer capabilities. This further deepens our feeling that: “National culture is an integral of global culture”—Chinese Abacus Skill, as an excellent cultural representative of mankind, has taken root and blossomed all over the world, gaining popularity and recognition among “ordinary people around the world” with its unique cultural identity and educational value and constituting an organic part of the world’s cultural exchange pattern.

(The 5th General Assembly of WAAMAwas successfully convened in Bandung of Indonesia in 2018) 

With respect to the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional abacus culture, there is much room for further development and improvement in organizational construction and operational research. To this end, WAAMA needs to solve three issues.

First, we will guide the development direction of WAAMA with academic research. Based on a study on educational reforms, discipline theory is often put forward first, followed by educational practices. To provide more support for its members in terms of educational practices, WAAMA will further enhance academic exchanges, lift the academic level, and organize various forms of academic seminar activities around such topics as intangible cultural heritage, principles of computer & algorithm, enlightening principle and educational practices to highlight the academic principle of “authority guidance, extensive cooperation”, and build a platform for top abacus and mental arithmetic experts to present research results of WAAMA’s academic exchanges, a stage for teachers to share teaching achievements and experience, and a cooperation platform for abacus and mental arithmetic practitioners to enhance exchanges and seek common development.

Second, we will adjust measures to local conditions and promote accurate dissemination. We will intensify efforts in improving abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching quality, with science as the guide and the function of enlightenment as the core. In view of the level of teachers and students in various regions as well as different cultural and educational traditions, it’s necessary to retain and summarize individualized and differentiated educational experience while refining general principles of education, so that the abacus and mental arithmetic education system can better adapt to and integrate into the world, the affinity and effectiveness of Chinese abacus in international communication can be effectively enhanced and the real enlightening effect can be regarded as quality guarantee for the “cultural card”—abacus to gain worldwide reputation.

Third, we will adhere to service orientation and play the role as a bridge. WAAMA will further promote organizational building, provide more communication and exchange channels between members while continuing to expand the membership, and make online communication and field research an important way to share experience and inspire innovation by fully relying on different carriers such as official websites, Internet information and big data platforms. Moreover, when organizing meetings, competitions and academic seminars, the WAAMA Secretariat should extensively collect opinions and suggestions from member organizations, draw on excellent experience of international organizations in a flexible way, standardize procedures and improve quality, so as to enhance the popularity and reputation of various activities organized by WAAMA.

Amid the surging cultural trend in the international community, professionals engaged in the abacus cause should keep cool-headed and intensify efforts in extracting and showcasing the cultural essence of traditional abacus culture with contemporary value and global significance. WAAMA will further enhance and propel friendly exchanges and cooperation among members, promote “China’s Abacus Skill across the World”, adhere to the creative transformation and innovative development, and do a good job in the inheritance, protection, dissemination and promotion of fine traditional cultures of mankind, so that China’s Abacus Skill will become a highlight in the world’s cultural exchange and construction system.