The World Chinese Conference that opened in Beijing on July 20 attracted participants doubling its expectation.

The largest ever conference attracted nearly 600 government officials, Chinese language experts and learners from 67 countries and regions.

Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with participants.

Noting the Chinese government attached importance to the development of Chinese teaching overseas, Li said the Chinese government will further increase investment to promote Chinese teaching overseas, publish more Chinese textbooks, and cultivate more teaching staff.

"We will also facilitate the construction of Confucius Institutes in an effort to provide better service to Chinese language learners overseas," Li added.

Chinese State Councilor Chen Zhili, also president of the conference, hoped the conference could help strengthen exchange and cooperation among countries and regions worldwide on Chinese language teaching policies, experiences and research results.

Statistics show that 30 million people worldwide are learning Chinese language through various ways, and more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries and regions run courses to teach Chinese as a foreign language.

The two-day conference, with the theme of the Development of Chinese in a Multi-cultural World, will listen to advice and suggestions of overseas scholars to better the Chinese language teaching overseas.

Source: Xinhua