Founded in 1884, the Alliance Française has been pursuing its ambitious project of spreading the French language and its culture worldwide for over a century. Such important people as Louis Pasteur, Ernest Renan, Julio Verne and Armand Colin figure amongst the Alliance's directors. Its first European centre was opened in Barcelona. It now boasts 420,000 students in 270 centres in 135 countries across the five continents, as well as 875 associations endorsed by the AF trademark. It opened the first foreign cultural centre to be sanctioned by the Chinese government in Pekin in October 2004. As a pioneer in teaching French as a foreign language, the Alliance launched teaching methodologies that take into account local languages and education systems. Cultural activities round off a wide-ranging programme of conferences, exhibitions, artistic creations and other activities designed to disseminate the idea of a country that is open to dialogue between cultures.