Chinese overseas may find that this is becoming more and more common. Over the past ten years learning the Chinese language has become popular around the world. Foreigners who can now speak Chinese are no longer a "rare species."

Statistics show that the number of non-Chinese students studying Chinese has surpassed 100,000, with more than sixty countries setting up Chinese language classes.

France has the largest Chinese language department in the world with 1,800 students studying the language in L'Universite De Paris Trois. The number of students in the Department of Chinese Literature at National Taiwan University, including the night school, does not exceed 700. In the US about 130 high schools and 486 colleges and universities offer Chinese language courses. There are even more foundations, like the Geralding R. Dodge Foundation, which make large annual donations to assist Chinese education.

Comparatively speaking, the governments of Canada and Singapore are considered the most supportive of Chinese education. Canada is a nation of immigrants. In order to stabilize the immigrants who come from all around the world, the government has decided to implement a policy of pluralistic culture, encouraging them to preserve their original cultures and languages.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has begun a Chinese language movement. This year it has just reached the beginning of its tenth year. Singapore is made up of 85 percent Chinese, Malaysians and Indians. English is the official government language. In the homes of Chinese descendants, various dialects like Fukienese, Hakka, and Cantonese are spoken.

There's a promising future in the Chinese language and this is the main reason why various countries around the world are encouraging the Chinese language movement.

Take the U.S. for example. Popular interest in the Chinese language began there in 1972 with Nixon's trip to Peking, and a second wave of interest came with the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communists in 1978.

Actually, there's no need to wait until the twenty-first century. Studying Chinese language is promising, even lucrative, right now.

A Korean student says that when the large Samsung and Goldstar Corporations of Korea seek employees through examinations, their very first requirement is not that the candidate knows how to speak English, but Chinese.

Li Chen-ch'ing, director of the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University, says with many years of experience behind him, "The elite and private schools in the U.S. emphasize Chinese language. Educated Overseas Chinese usually see to it that their children study Chinese."

He notes that last year Nobel Prize winners Li Yuan-che and Yang Chen-ning, both from the R.O.C. and now residing in the US, sent their children to Taiwan to study Chinese. The son of the internationally renowned Nobel Peace Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a former student of Chou Chih-p'ing at the Chinese summer school of Middlebury College, U.S.

Chinese has changed from being considered "old-fashioned" to "vogue," and the attitude held by Westerners towards studying Chinese has greatly changed.

Li Ying-chih analyzes the situation saying, "Formerly, when people studied Chinese they looked towards China's past. Now they are looking to China's future. In the past, culture was emphasized; now the emphasis is on language. Chinese is now being used as a means to achieve other goals, like making money."

Han T'ai-ming, a student in the Department of Chinese at San Francisco State University feels that the desire of so many American businessmen to learn Chinese reflects a change in the hearts of proud Americans.

"Our businessmen didn't emphasize the importance of language before. They thought that all it took to do business was capital and a good product. But that's not the case now. With the U.S. deficit as large as it is, they should wake up," she says seriously.

Her classmate Sun Hsiao-hu feels that more and more Americans who desire to communicate with Chinese people are willing to learn Chinese since they've once again given thought to the saying, "When in Rome do as the Romans do." Even more people would study Chinese if it were easier," he says. His goal is to research a method which would make learning Chinese less difficult. He wants to close the gap that exists between two peoples. "This is something very important for my country," he says with determination.

When seen from so many points of view and methods, this Chinese language "heat wave" will not be cooling down in the near future.

[Picture Caption]

The Chinese language class at the Punahou Middle School, Hawaii. Students learn Chinese by playing games during a camping activity.

At a primary school in Canada there's a Chinese class called "Ancestral Language." The plaque hanging in the principal's office is the best evidence.

The Chinese language movement in Singapore is the most diligent. Signs which read, "Speak more Chinese" can be seen everywhere.

Iolani Middle School, where Dr. Sun Yat-sen once studied, offers a class in Chinese too.

Teachers make use of Chinese songs to teach their Saturday Chinese classes. Mother's Day is just around the corner, so students sing "Mother's Eyes" and "Song of the Traveler."

Lessons in Chinese calligraphy are a good way of sparking students' interest.

A class in I Ching or Book of Changes is not offered domestically until the graduate school level. A cultural class in a primary school in Hawaii gives a brief introduction to the Book of Changes.

The number of Chinese abroad is increasing. Likewise, jobs which require knowledge of Chinese are also on the rise. Seen here is a glimpse of San Francisco's Chinatown.

In the past, most Westerners placed special emphasis on culture and not language. Seen here is the rare books section in the Chinese language library at Princeton University.

The East Asian Studies Department at Toronto University, Canada, encourages its students to learn standard Chinese characters.

At a primary school in Canada there's a Chinese class called "Ancestral Language." The plaque hanging in the principal's office is the best evidence.

The Chinese language movement in Singapore is the most diligent. Signs which read, "Speak more Chinese" can be seen everywhere.

Iolani Middle School, where Dr. Sun Yat-sen once studied, offers a class in Chinese too.

Teachers make use of Chinese songs to teach their Saturday Chinese classes. Mother's Day is just around the corner, so students sing "Mother's Eyes" and "Song of the Traveler.".

Lessons in Chinese calligraphy are a good way of sparking students' interest.

A class in I Ching or Book of Changes is not offered domestically until the graduate school level. A cultural class in a primary school in Hawaii gives a brief introduction to the Book of Changes.

The number of Chinese abroad is increasing. Likewise, jobs which require knowledge of Chinese are also on the rise. Seen here is a glimpse of San Francisco's Chinatown.

In the past, most Westerners placed special emphasis on culture and not language. Seen here is the rare books section in the Chinese language library at Princeton University.

The East Asian Studies Department at Toronto University, Canada, encourages its students to learn standard Chinese characters.