Craze for Chinese language study is spreading all
over the world. Especially in 2002, Chinese is growing into
a global popular language second only to
English.
As the international community is attaching
ever-growing importance to Chinese, a language used by the
largest population in the world, the number of people
studying the language has gone up year by year. According to
an international forum on Chinese language teaching held in
August 2002 at the Beijing Language Study University, more
than 2,100 universities and numerous primary and secondary
schools and non-governmental institutions in 85 countries
have launched Chinese courses. Latest materials indicate
that nearly 30 million foreign students are studying
Chinese.
Like the gigantic industry
created by Chinese people's English study, the new-round
global craze for Chinese study has started up a colossal
Chinese teaching industry. Governmental and non-governmental
Chinese language teaching institutions oriented to
foreigners have emerged continuously. In 2002, Beijing alone
netted 900 million yuan from Chinese language teaching for
foreigners.
More than 300 Chinese
universities have established Chinese colleges or Chinese
teaching centers oriented to foreign students, with a
combined faculty of 5,000. The Beijing Language Study
University, with the longest history, enrolled a total of
410,000 foreign students during the decade between
1992-2002. The enrolment reached the pinnacle of growth in
recent years, with the total number of foreign students
exceeding 240,000 during the five years between 1997-2001,
or 150 percent more than the previous five years. In 2002
alone, the enrolment exceeded 60,000, a rise of 10 percent
on the previous year. The specialties
majored by foreign students have expanded from Chinese and
traditional Chinese medicine to science and technology,
economics, management, law and other applied courses,
forming the pattern of Chinese plus specialty. The number of
people receiving academic credential education has increased
on an annual basis, with that of master and PhD students
growing quickly. In terms of the nationality of students,
Japan and the Republic of Korea come first, followed by
Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam and other Southeast Asian
countries, and then by North American and European countries.
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