• 24Aug

    Why Chinese?

    Would I want to Learn Chinese?

    • China has one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, with a written history of 4,000 years.
    • Chinese is the world’s longest continuously used written language system, which has been used for 6,000 years.
    • With a population of 1.3 billion, China is becoming the world’s largest market.
    • China’s economy enjoyed average annual growth rates in excess of 9 per cent over the past two decades, and is expected to maintain rapid growth over the next 20 years.
    • China is the world’s second-largest economy in terms of purchasing power after decades of rapid economic development.
    • With the continuous improvement of the investment climate, China has now become one of the most attractive investment destinations. It is already the top recipient of direct foreign investment.
    • Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language in the world, with more than the number of speakers of English and Spanish combined.
    • More than 2500 universities offer Chinese courses in some 100 countries; Chinese has become the third most popular language taught in US schools, behind English and Spanish.
    • The US College Board, UK Schools Programme and other educational authorities have all decided to add Chinese to their curriculums. 
    • The number of people learning Chinese (as a foreign language) around the world reaches over 30 million and that number is forecast to rise to 100 million by 2010.