The educational department of East China's Jiangsu province will cooperate with foreign cities to set up 50 more Confucius Classes and three to five Confucius Institutes in two years, despite some criticism of the cultural project, according to the local government.

Ding Xiaochang, deputy director of the educational department, said that 200 volunteers and university teachers will be sent to Confucius Institutes and Classes from the province each year.

"We try to make the Confucius Institutes and Classes serve as a platform for educational, cultural and economic cooperation between China and other countries," Ding said. "The nonprofit program can forge friendships and mutual understanding if it is operated well."