Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has long-standing relationships with the scientific and educational institutions of the People's Republic of China. Throughout its history, Kyiv Polytechnic has trained thousands of specialists for this country, engineers, production managers, and whole industries. Two of the graduates of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute even became home ministers. These links are now intensively restored and deepened. More and more students from China are coming to study, our researchers are actively collaborating with Chinese counterparts. Moreover, according to Oleg Dyomin, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to China, today the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” has the largest number of joint projects with Chinese educational institutions and research centers and stronger ties than any other Ukrainian organization. So when the question arose, where exactly in Ukraine should be a monument to the prominent Chinese thinker, educator and politician Confucius (September 28, 551 BC - May 11, 479 BC), nobody doubted – it is in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute!
Despite the fact that Confucius lived in ancient times, his name enjoys tremendous respect in China and throughout the world. Special attention of Confucius paid attention to the education of the perfect man, the wise man and his self-improvement. In China, Confucius is called “a teacher of ten thousand generations” and his views on education remain relevant to this day. Therefore, on the pedestal of the monument, which was opened on August 31, his words were stamped: “The one who learns, but does not think, will lose himself, the one who thinks, but does not learn, will ruin himself”.
The monument is a gift from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. It was made on the initiative and at the expense of the diplomatic representation of this great state and installed on the square of Knowledge by the face to the building number 7, where most departments of liberal arts are working. The authors of the bronze figure of the great thinker are the younger representative of the famous Ukrainian artistic dynasty, the famous sculptor Mykola Znob, whose works decorated not only by the Ukrainian cities but also by the historical centers of France, Great Britain and the Czech Republic, as well as Veronika Dirova.
By the way about the authors of monumental works, established on the territory of Kyiv polytechnics. The university has already developed a tradition to invite only the best Ukrainian sculptors and architects to cooperate. So among the memorable signs and monuments decorating our campus are the works of the famous Ukrainian sculptor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Honored Artist of Ukraine Mykola Skoblikov, Honored Artist of Ukraine Mykola Oliynyk, young talented sculptors and brothers Nikita and Yegor Zigurs, and others. Most of these artistic creations have already become a real business card of the university, and some – of the Ukrainian capital.