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Current situation and development trend of Chinese language and culture education

2013-12-28 丨

The writer is from the Ministry of culture development

 As Shenmo is continuously going global, it is paying attention to Chinese language and culture education overseas. At the award ceremony of the Fourth “Shenmo Cup” Mental Abacus International Competition hosted by Shenmo, Kyle Villeponteau, a Shenmo student, remarked on behalf of the overseas competitors, “Mental abacus calculation is very interesting. Last year, I began to learn it to improve my math skills. My fellow classmates think practicing it is very cool when I introduce it to them”. Kyle comes from Jinlong Kung Fu Academy, an American Chinese language and culture school established in 2003. This school is based on diverse and open perspectives to understand and appreciate the cultural characteristics of other countries, and dedicated to providing quality education and inheriting Chinese culture. It satisfies students’ artistic and academic needs by offering courses on kung fu, Chinese language, mental abacus calculation, watercolor painting, Chinese dance, table tennis, English public speaking and writing, math, vocal and instrumental music (including the piano, violin, and flute), chess and so on.
 
Such schools for Chinese language and culture education are gaining a global reach. With expanding globalization, other countries’ increasing need and interest to learn different cultures, and China’s growing comprehensive power, Chinese language and culture education is having more cultural value, attracting worldwide attention.
 
The current situation of Chinese language and culture education
 
Chinese Language and culture education has more than 300 years of history. By 2008, there are more than 30 million overseas Chinese (or even more) in over 140 countries and regions of five continents; and there are more than 5,000 Chinese language and culture education schools. More than 3,000 of the schools are in Asia, and more than 500 are in America. Development of such schools is gaining momentum in Europe and America.
 
Since the 1990s, many countries have been breaking the “self-enclosed” model of development, strengthening their exchanges with the world. In such an open landscape, Chinese language and culture education schools are booming.
 
Chinese schools of various kinds are gradually welcomed by all countries.
 
For many countries, strengthening Chinese language and culture education can promote their cooperation with China in various fields, and help them to absorb advanced Chinese technology and culture for their development. Therefore, the governments of many countries allocate money for the establishment of Chinese language and culture schools. For example, since 1994, the Malaysian government began to subsidize the previously self-funded Chinese language and culture schools. Of more than a thousand Chinese language and culture primary schools, 851 are half subsidized by the government, and 432 are fully subsidized.
 
Many institutions are offering Chinese language and culture courses.
 
As a tool for international exchanges, Chinese language and culture captures worldwide attention. Currently, thousands of colleges and universities in more than 60 countries have set up the department or school of Chinese, and many colleges and universities have made Chinese language and culture a compulsory course. In the United States, the course of Chinese language and culture is offered in 400 to 500 American universities and more than 300 primary and secondary schools. As a result, Chinese has become the third largest language in America. In the 1990s, Chinese entered the mainstream society in Canada, where it was taken as a public foreign language in many fields. Switzerland, with a population of only 6.5 million, owns two universities having Chinese language and culture major, and one of them offers Chinese course. Many universities in the UK, France, Germany, have the Chinese department, and some also have the Chinese Academy. East Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan have a large number of schools offering Chinese language and culture education and a large number of learners. In Japan, more than 1 million people can speak Chinese. The number of people learning Chinese language and culture is continuously increasing. Various forms of Chinese language and culture classes and cram schools are springing up, catering to the need of new Chinese immigrants, and the worldwide “Chinese fever” phenomenon.
 
Problems encountering Chinese language and culture education
 
While Chinese language and culture education is going popular worldwide, it has some problems that cannot be ignored.
 
First, due to its fragmented distribution and different cultural and geographical characteristics in its locations, it is hard for different countries to share resources, experiences of running schools, and relevant education information. As a result, Chinese language and culture education can hardly have a fundamental breakthrough.
 
Second, there is no agreed standard of running school, with each school having their own system. As a result, Chinese language and culture education has a weak system, and lacks competitive edge in the face of local education institutions. This may be the major challenge and direction for the development of Chinese language and culture education.
 
The development trend for Chinese language and culture education
 
Chinese language and culture education will exist for a long time.
 
Overseas Chinese are a group that has formed in specific historical period, and they will have a long-term presence. Overseas Chinese descent from the same root, and they hope to establish Chinese language and culture schools for their children. Besides, other countries and foreigners find it the channel of learning and communication and deeper understanding of and more exchange with outside world. Openness, freedom, and cooperation in development are the features of the era. In this context, Chinese language and culture education will persist in the world in the long run.
 
Confucius Institutes open a window for the world to learn about China.
 
From 2004 on, China began to establish the Confucius Institute, an overseas non-profit educational institution dedicated to teaching Chinese and spreading Chinese culture. In the past decades, it enjoys rapid development. Under joint efforts of both China and other countries, 400 Confucius Institutes and more than 500 primary and secondary Confucius Classes have been set up in 108 countries and regions by 2012. Confucius Institutes carry out a variety of teaching and cultural activities, and have gradually formed the system of running school that popularizes Chinese culture in other countries. They have opened a window to Chinese language, culture, and a modern China, catering to other countries’ need and interest to understand diverse cultures. They are also important and popular platforms for the exchange of Chinese and overseas cultures, strengthening the friendly cooperation between Chinese and people outside China.
 
On November 10, 2013, Lilly Cheng, President of the United States Confucius Institute, hosted an International Education Forum at San Diego State University and invited Li Mianjun, Chief President of Shenmo Education and winner of “U.S. government award of 2014”, to deliver a speech. Mr. Li introduced abacus calculation culture and its education, and the quality education concept of Shenmo. Besides, he exchanged ideas with overseas education personnel and was applauded by them. On December 13, 2013, Lilly Cheng, President of the United States Confucius Institute, Kevin Lee, the United States Cultural Ambassador, among others, visited the Shenmo Education base in Linyi, and reached an agreement on the strategic cooperation between Shenmo and American Confucius Institutes, which will jointly spread Chinese culture represented by calculation with an abacus in the world’s cultural field.
 
Chinese language and culture education advances the world civilization.
 
Chinese culture of many dynasties, especially of the Tang Dynasty, has left a profound impact on the world’s cultural history, complementing or inspiring the culture of other nations. In teaching Chinese language and culture to overseas Chinese and their children as well as foreigners, Chinese language and culture education spreads fine Chinese culture, advances world civilization, which is where its value lies in other countries. In recent years, Singapore has achieved a lot in both material and spiritual civilization, and much of the credit can go to the spreading of the essence of Oriental Confucian culture – pursuing moral values, promoting interpersonal harmony and human-nature harmony, and seeking sustainable development.
 
As an important component of world civilization, Chinese culture has advanced the world’s culture in the process of learning from fruits of world’s fine cultures. As an important platform for the overseas exchange of Chinese culture, Chinese language and culture education will continue to contribute to the prosperity of the world’s culture.