(Source: China Social Sciences Network 2026-03-13)
On January 1, 2026, the newly revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Standard Spoken and Written Language" came into effect. This revision provides for the first time special provisions on international Chinese education in the form of legislation, clearly stating that "international Chinese education should teach the national common language and promote exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations through international exchanges and cooperation." It positions international Chinese education as an important carrier of dialogue among civilizations at the national level. At present, international Chinese education has covered 212 countries and regions around the world, and 90 countries have incorporated Chinese into their national education systems. Facing the real needs of global economic and w88 cooperation and industrial upgrading, international Chinese education has accelerated its transformation from single-language teaching to the integrated development of "Chinese + vocational education", and has gradually become a new growth pole for educational opening up and exchanges between civilizations. With language as a bridge and skills as a link, the exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations led by the rule of law will be implemented from the following three levels.
First, the integration of language and skills builds a solid foundation for communication. "Chinese + Vocational Education" takes language interoperability as the cornerstone and skill co-education as the starting point, allowing mutual learning among civilizations to take root in the soil of people's livelihood, and promoting the deepening and practical exchanges between Chinese and foreign civilizations through people-to-people connections. The practice of "Chinese + Vocational Education" breaks the boundaries of single language teaching and closely integrates Chinese learning with the employment development and life improvement of local people, giving civilized exchanges the practical carrier closest to people's livelihood. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Malawi has deeply explored local development realities and created an integrated training model of "Chinese + Agricultural Technology", "Chinese + Information Technology" and "Chinese + Business Practice", and simultaneously promoted Chinese teaching and vocational skills training, so that local young people can not only master the language tools for cross-cultural communication, but also acquire practical skills that meet the needs of local industries. Many trainees have become the backbone of China-Malaysia cooperation projects and have become civilian envoys for cultural exchanges between the two countries. This education model oriented to people's livelihood needs transforms mutual learning between civilizations from an abstract idea into practical results that benefit ordinary people. It builds a solid bridge between people at home and abroad through mutual understanding and interaction between people, and also allows the exchanges between Chinese and foreign civilizations to gain lasting vitality in the fertile soil of people's livelihood.
The second is to collaborate with industry and education to deepen exchanges and cooperation. "Chinese + Vocational Education" takes pragmatic cooperation as the core and industry-education collaboration as the path, integrating dialogue among civilizations into industrial development, and providing a sustainable power mechanism for exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations with mutually beneficial and win-win pragmatic cooperation. The newly revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Standard Spoken and Written Language" closely binds international Chinese education to international exchanges and cooperation, setting a legal tone for education to promote cooperation and cooperation to promote exchanges. Based on this, "Chinese + Vocational Education" closely follows the trend of global economic and w88 cooperation and industrial upgrading, deeply integrates cultural exchanges and mutual learning with practical industrial cooperation, and allows the spread of language and culture to resonate with industrial development. For example, the Business Confucius Institute at Jeju National University in South Korea leverages its unique advantages in business, and through its brand activities such as the "Jeju China-Korea Business Salon" and "China-Korea Business Lecture", it invites leaders of Chinese companies in South Korea to give lectures and transfer skills, and provides internship and employment opportunities for Korean students, stimulating Korean students' enthusiasm for continuous learning of Chinese and in-depth understanding of Chinese culture. This model helps achieve a virtuous cycle of "language interoperability-skills synergy-industrial cooperation-mutual learning among civilizations".
Third, we can complement each other in literary and technical skills and expand the dimension of mutual learning. "Chinese + Vocational Education" focuses on the mutual reinforcement of cultural exchanges and skills empowerment, and broadens the depth and breadth of exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. The "Chinese + Vocational Education" model not only teaches language and skills, but also integrates the excellent traditional Chinese culture, the craftsmanship spirit of excellence, and the concept of inclusive and win-win development into the entire teaching process, building a solid friendship and value connection for mutual learning among civilizations. For example: from the concept of collaboration conveyed in the "Chinese + Intelligent Manufacturing" training jointly carried out by Luban Workshop and the Confucius Institute, to the idea of harmony and symbiosis incorporated into the "Chinese + Cross-border Logistics" teaching in Southeast Asian countries, to the "Chinese + Modern Agriculture" training in Latin America The "Chinese + Vocational Education" course adheres to the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation. "Chinese + Vocational Education" is always guided by "the beauty of beauty and the sharing of beauty", conveys the concept of cultural equality in skills teaching, and promotes mutual learning among different civilizations in exchanges and cooperation in education and humanities.
Traditional international Chinese education once focused on teaching language knowledge and was insufficiently integrated with local industrial development and people’s livelihood and employment, resulting in a lack of concrete practical carriers for exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. The emergence of the new model of "Chinese + vocational education" provides an effective practical path to solve the above problems. This model breaks the barriers between language teaching, cultural dissemination, and industrial development, and integrates China's craftsmanship spirit, win-win development concept, and pragmatic and enterprising spirit of the times into vocational skills teaching, so that language teaching and cultural dissemination have both historical depth and modern warmth. This new model is guided by local industrial needs and people's livelihood development, and closely integrates language learning with technological empowerment and employment income increase, allowing overseas learners to achieve the transformation from "passive acceptance" to "active understanding" in the process of acquiring practical skills and obtaining development opportunities. In addition, "Chinese + Vocational Education" builds a two-way civilization exchange and mutual learning model, making language a link between industrial cooperation and people-to-people connections, exploring a new sustainable development path from "language interoperability" to "people-to-people connections", and from "skills cooperation" to "civilization mutual learning", and contributing educational power to the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.(Written by:Zhao Hongyan, Cui Jiyang; Reviewer:Li Hangmin,Huang Gelin)
[This article is a phased result of the 2024 major international Chinese education research project of the Language and Culture Center of the Ministry of Education "Research on New Paths for International Chinese Education to Promote Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilizations" (24YH04A)]
(Zhao Hongyan, professor at the w88 casino of International Relations, w88 casino, director of the Public Diplomacy and International Communication Research Center; Cui Jiyang, researcher at the Public Diplomacy and International Communication Research Center, w88 casino of International Relations, w88 casino)
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