Every three days a Confucius institute was founded in a foreign
country over the past year, which was out of the expectation of
Kong Lin, senior official in charge of Chinese teaching
overseas.
This tide for learning Chinese was initiated from the 1st
International Conference on Chinese language held in Beijing in
July, 2005, through which the Chinese government showed its
interesting in popularizing Mandarin, China's official language,
Kong recalled.
The first group of 25 Confucius institutes around the world were
officially acknowledged by the government then, and the number has
increased to 123 in 49 countries and regions.
Named after the famous ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius
institutes replaced the nondescriptly-named Chinese Language
Centers, trying to spread Chinese language and culture
worldwide.
At Kong's office, the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a
Foreign Language (NOTCFL), applications for establishing Confucius
institutes by foreign universities came in every day through
letters and faxes.
"This move is to comply with the surging demand for Mandarin
learning, as more and more people have realized the important role
China has been playing in the world," Kong said.
China emerged as the world's fourth largest economy,
contributing a yearly average of 13 percent to world economic
growth over the past five years.
Statistics showed in 2003, 200 primary and middle schools in the
United States given Chinese language lessons, and the figure
tripled this year.
In 2005, nearly 30,000 took Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), a
national-level test of Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers
such as foreigners, overseas Chinese and students of Chinese ethnic
minorities, while this year the figure doubled. HSK is eyed by many
people as TOEFL in the United States for those who want to enter
the country.
The Ministry of Education says 40 million people are learning
Chinese the world over, but predicts the figure will hit 100
million by 2010. In China alone, the number of foreigners studying
Mandarin has grown from 36,000 ten years ago to 110,000 this
year.
However, behind the optimistic statistics, Kong also felt
pressure -- Chinese teachers and relevant teaching materials were
still in short of demand. Among the 1,000 kinds of Chinese language
textbooks, few are easily accessible to non-native speakers.
"We should change the way of thinking when teaching Chinese to
non-native speakers, emphasizing more on the sense of language
instead of complicated grammar," Kong said.
Kong said the office decided to cooperate with foreign
publishing houses to compile different teaching materials on
Chinese language in different countries.
Quite a few Chinese primary and middle schools also actively
sought for cooperation on Chinese language teaching with foreign
counterparts in respective friendly provinces and cities.
"It will not only expand the channels for promoting Chinese, but
also push forward educational reform in China," Kong said.
She noted that the training of personnel on Chinese teaching
overseas was also changed. Students major in Chinese language
teaching overseas should first learn the language of targeted
country and then their native language, which totally reversed the
previous situation.
Kong noted that China began to launch Chinese language teaching
overseas some 20 years ago when China adopted the reform and
opening-up policies. The overseas surging demand for Chinese
language learning gave rise to the Confucius institute.
About one month ago, the prestigious Colombia University of the
United States held a Chinese Culture Festival with each building on
campus hanging a red lantern.
"My colleagues there told me that the U.S. people got to know
for the first time that Chinese expressed their sense of happiness
by hanging a red lantern," Kong said, stressing that people could
better understand each other by learning each other's language and
culture.
According to the schedule of NOTCFL, China will have built 500
Confucius institutes by the end of 2010.
"More and more Confucius institutes help Chinese language and
culture to gain its popularity in the world," Kong said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2007)