Ningbo, Zhejiang province was announced as the permanent host city of the International Early Childhood Education Conference on Dec 27.

Ningbo was the hometown of Wang Yinglin (1223-1296), an influential philosopher, politician and educator. One of Wang's most famous compositions is Three Character Classic, commonly known as San Zi Jing. It serves as a children's primer to help them increase their Chinese character vocabulary and knowledge of social values through memorization.

In commemoration of Wang's 800th birthday, the first International Early Childhood Education Conference was held in the city's Yinzhou district on Dec 27, during which scholars delivered keynote speeches revolving around the Three Character Classic and Wang's contributions to early childhood education.

To promote traditional culture, a series of projects, including publication plans for international early childhood education research, traditional culture research and study bases for adolescents, and a digital stamp collection featuring Wang's figure, was launched at the conference.

The Yinglin Academy in Yinzhou district, Ningbo Moon Lake Culture Research Institute, and Shanxia Academy in Cixi were listed as traditional culture research and study bases for adolescents.

Four parallel seminars focusing on Wang's educational thoughts and development of early childhood education were also held during the conference.