Six foreign convicts in Qingpu Prison in Shanghai sat the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) yesterday morning, the first such prison exam in the country.

 

Invigilators including prison officers and staff from the Chinese Proficiency Test Center supervised the three-hour exams in elementary and intermediate Chinese.

 

The idea to sit the HSK came from foreign inmates who studied Chinese courses in prison, said Xiao Limin, a prison official.

 

As the only city prison holding foreign inmates, Qingpu Prison emphasizes Chinese culture to help overseas convicts reform, he said.

 

In addition to spoken and written Chinese, prison officers also provide bilingual education on Chinese geography, history, art and food.

 

"The lessons not only remove the language obstacles between the convicts and the prison officers, but attract more foreign inmates to the classes," Xiao added.

 

A South Korean convict, serving life for manslaughter, said he was well prepared for the exam following long, hard work.

 

"I will grasp this opportunity to achieve good results," said the man, identifying himself as Kim. "I was grateful to Chinese officers for offering me the chance and I am sure of turning in a satisfactory academic performance."

 

The HSK is a series of tests designed to assess the Chinese language proficiency of non-native speakers. The exam is held each year in China and overseas.

 

When the exam was first established in the early 1990s, only 200 to 300 people sat it. Numbers hit 100,000 in 2001 and examinees increase by 40 to 50 percent each year.

 

(Shanghai Daily December 11, 2006)