At a press briefing for the World Conference on Sinology 2007, Xu Lin, the director of the Office of the Chinese Language Council (also known as Han Ban) said that the popularity of Chinese language study is spreading rapidly around the world. Han Ban is cooperating with overseas educational organizations to build 140 Confucius Institutes in 52 countries and regions. By then end of 2007, there will be 200 Confucius Institutes. The number of teachers China is sending abroad is also increasing; in 2006 China sent 1004 teachers to 80 countries and 1050 volunteer teachers to 34 countries. Furthermore, in 2006, the number of foreigners who undertook Chinese language examinations doubled from 2005.

After getting approval from the State Council Academic Degree Commission, a Masters degree in international Chinese education has been established. Han Ban is cooperating with approximately 400 universities to train Chinese teachers for overseas postings.

Han Ban has also chosen individuals who are already qualified to teach foreigners Chinese to undertake language training for one year, to meet the demands of students from the European Union, Middle East and Latin America. A Business Chinese Test (BCT) will be launched this year and a language test for children and teenagers is also being developed, to be ready by this year or next. To develop the existing textbooks, national and international experts at Han Ban are compiling teaching material that reflects foreigner's lives, thinking and habits.

The World Conference on Sinology 2007, co-hosted by the Office of the International Chinese Language Council and Renmin University of China, will be held in Beijing from March 26 to 28. The theme of this conference is "Dialogue between Civilizations and a Harmonious World".

By People's Daily Online