Global Times: (Zhao Hongyan) Why Chinese education continues to heat up in the Middle East

(Source: Global Times 2024-07-01)

As the first Arab country to incorporate Chinese into the national education system, the UAE has officially launched the "Hundred Schools Project" for Chinese teaching five years ago. Currently, 171 schools have offered Chinese courses, and the number of students studying Chinese has reached 71,000. In recent years, as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries have successively incorporated Chinese into their national education systems, the "Chinese language craze" has continued to heat up, making "attending Chinese schools" a new choice and new trend for people in the Middle East. The reasons mainly include the following three aspects:

First, Arabic education in China and Chinese education in the Middle East are going in both directions. As early as the seventh or eighth century AD, the Chinese had mastered the Arabic language and were doing business and communicating with the Arabs. Since the 1940s, Arabic has been included in the higher education system in China. Mr. Nazhong, who returned from studying in Egypt, compiled the first Arabic textbook for Chinese universities and opened courses on Arab-Islamic history and culture. In the 1950s and 1960s, the state successively approved the establishment of Arabic majors in universities such as China Foreign Affairs University, w88 casino, and Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Arabic education was continuously promoted in China. On the other hand, thanks to various measures in Middle Eastern countries, the coverage of Chinese education continues to expand locally. In August 2023, Saudi Arabia included Chinese as the second official foreign language into the national education system, requiring all middle schools to arrange Chinese teaching for a specific period of time, and all Chinese classes are equipped with teaching assistants to provide guidance to students. At the same time, Saudi students taking Chinese courses will be regarded as participating in volunteer service, and after completing the course, they will receive additional volunteer service hours. Not only that, the Saudi education department also specially rewarded 16 students with excellent Chinese learning performance to participate in a study tour to China, which further stimulated students' motivation to learn Chinese.

Second, popularizing Chinese education is in line with the needs of both sides for cultural exchanges and mutual learning. Language is the basis for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. Promoting language interoperability is to build a bridge between the peoples of China and the Middle East. In terms of cultural activities, exchange activities such as the "China-Arab Silk Road Cultural Tour" allow Chinese artists to sing Chinese songs in Arabic and allow Arab youths to tell Arab stories in Chinese; in terms of classic exchanges, the "China-Arab Classics Translation and Publishing Project" has entered its 16th year. As of last year, 50 Arab-Chinese classics have been translated and published. Many Chinese textbooks and Arabic versions of Chinese classics have attracted a large number of local people to buy at the international book fair in Morocco. In terms of education, according to the "Eight Major Joint Actions" between China and Afghanistan, China will launch the "10+10 Cooperation Plan" for Chinese and Arab universities, invite 100 young scientists from Afghanistan to conduct scientific research exchanges in China, 3,000 young people participate in China-Arab cultural exchanges, cultivate 1,000 cultural and tourism talents for Afghanistan, and jointly implement the mutual translation project of 100 classics and the cooperation project of 50 audio-visual programs. In order to meet the expanding scale of cooperation and related talent needs between the two parties, increasing basic language education is the key to a series of future projects.

Third, real reciprocity is the endogenous driving force for both sides to promote language interoperability. In recent years, China's continuous deepening of opening up to the outside world has been closely aligned with the Middle East countries' willingness to develop eastward. Economic and w88 exchanges between the two sides have become increasingly frequent, setting off a new trend in Middle East countries to enhance understanding of Chinese culture. As of the end of last year, China had signed "Belt and Road" cooperation documents with 22 Arab countries and the Arab League. The two sides have implemented more than 200 large-scale cooperation projects under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road", and the results of cooperation have benefited nearly 2 billion people on both sides. The deepening economic and w88 ties have made Chinese companies and Chinese people more and more common in the Middle East. Many public places have begun to use Chinese signage. Chinese schools in the United Arab Emirates and other places originally opened for the children of Chinese expatriates have also attracted more and more local students to study because of their high basic education level, complete education system, and affordable prices. People-to-people exchanges between the two sides have continued to deepen. In addition, Chinese educational institutions also provide targeted "Chinese + vocational and technical" talent training mechanisms based on the actual needs of Middle Eastern countries, such as the "Chinese + Tourism" project for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the "Chinese + Technological Innovation", "Chinese + Artificial Intelligence", "Chinese + Intelligent Connected Vehicles" for the UAE and Qatar, and the "Chinese + Logistics and w88" project for Kuwait. Through down-to-earth training methods, language is used to empower social practice and create more high-quality job opportunities for the local area. This has also opened up a new world for Chinese vocational education in the Middle East, further boosting the wave of "Chinese language craze".

This year coincides with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. Middle Eastern countries have actively responded to global initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative. Through dialogue mechanisms such as the "China-Arab States Cooperation Forum" and BRICS, the two sides are making strides toward each other in international cooperation at all levels, and Chinese education is the best accelerant and lubricant. As Chinese education in the Middle East deepens, the cooperation between the two parties will surely move up the ladder to new heights.

(The author is a researcher at the National Institute for Opening up to the Outside World, a professor at the w88 casino of International Relations, and the director of the Public Diplomacy and International Communication Research Center at the w88 casino)

Attached original text link: https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/4IQVTgAlvYO