I. World Chinese Conference

The politically stable and economically sound China witnesses an expansion in the width and depth of its exchange with the international community in terms of trade, culture and education, which creates an increasing demand for the Chinese language in virtually every part of the world. The part civil society used to play in promoting the Chinese language has now been taken over by the government. Chinese has been incorporated by educational administrations into the compulsory curriculum for second language education in many countries and China's initiative to build "Confucius Institute" abroad is well received by both governmental and non-governmental organizations of the host countries.

We use Chinese as the mother tongue and so we are duty bound to try every means possible to build up a quality Chinese language teaching database for it to lend rich resources to worldwide Chinese teaching, with a view to strengthening inter-cultural communication and understanding and to contributing to world peace and development.

What China has done in CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) teaching is far from being sufficient to meet the challenge presented by the upsurge enthusiasm for Chinese learning. To give more weight to the overseas Chinese teaching as a Foreign language and to offer better service in this regard, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture, the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, the State Press and Publication Administration, the Information Office of the State Council and the State Language Commission and other member organizations of the China State Leading Group for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language have decided to host the World Chinese Conference in Beijing July 20-22, 2005.

The theme of this conference is "the Development of Chinese in a Multicultural World". The tenet of the conference is to publicize Chinese government's policy of promoting Chinese teaching throughout the world and to invite extensive suggestions and insights from home and abroad in regard to some important issues about the development of Chinese teaching.

It is estimated that over 300 people will present at the Conference: 200 overseas participants including political leaders, senior education officials, important officials responsible for Chinese language teaching policies, as well as presidents of prestigious universities and renowned sinologists; 100 domestic participants including chief officials, experts and scholars from Provincial or municipal authorities of education, famous Chinese universities. To date, about 200 representatives from 70 countries have confirmed their participation in this event, including over 30 political leaders or ministerial level officials, more than 40 sub-ministerial level officials, and about 130 university presidents and scholars.

The conference consists of three parts: opening, sessions and closing. The grand opening ceremony is scheduled at 3:00 pm July 20 at the Great Hall of the People.

On July 21, the conference will break down into three sessions: "Multicultural Communication and the Demand for the Chinese Language", "Operational Mechanisms for Chinese Teaching and Learning in the New Era", and "Prospect for the Development of Second language Education in the World".

The Conference will be closed at the Beijing Hotel on July 22. At this event, the Plate Award Ceremony for overseas Confucius Institutes and the Award Ceremony for the 4th "Chinese Bridge" Foreign College Students will also take place.

Many other related events will be held during the conference, including the 8th International Symposium on Chinese Teaching, Symposium on Overseas Sinology, Exhibition of Chinese Language Teaching Materials from China and Abroad, the 4th Chinese Bridge－Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, International Summer Chinese Language Program/Summer Camp for University and Secondary School Students and China Culture Tour.

II. Major Measures by the Chinese Government in Supporting the CFL Teaching

In such a multicultural world, the language development policy of the Chinese government is to encourage Chinese citizens to learn foreign languages and to require every primary, secondary or university student to get foreign languages skills. At the same time, the government also gives high priority to the promotion of CFL teaching and plan to provide better service for people from other countries in their Chinese learning. To this end, in the year 2004, the State Council has approved the "Chinese Bridge" Project, which covers the following aspects:

1. Speeding up the Process of Building "Confucius Institute"

The overseas "Confucius Institute" will serve as a base for Chinese language teaching and cultural exchange such as non-degree Chinese teaching, Chinese language teacher training and Chinese cultural dissemination.

2. Development of Multi-media Audio-visual Teaching Materials "Chengo Chinese" and "Great Wall Chinese"

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chinese Ministry of Education and the US Department of Education, from 2003 on, the two countries have been cooperating on the E-language Learning System project (ELLS). The Chinese side has developed the "Chengo Chinese" courseware, which helps the US middle and high schools with their Chinese teaching through the Internet. This courseware has been tested by almost 150,000students from over 20 states of the US, and has been well-received.

The "Great Wall Chinese" is characterized by its unconventional teaching mode and will give more Chinese language learners with all kinds of customized learning solutions.

3. Supporting the AP (Advanced Placement) Chinese Program

The creation of AP Chinese signals that Chinese language teaching has become part of the US mainstream education system. As part of this initiative, the AP Chinese Language and Culture Course will be started in 2006 and the AP Chinese examination will be officially offered in 2007. Throughout the United States, there are already 2500 schools planning to offer AP Chinese course. China will assist the US College Board with the teacher training program and in providing tailored teaching materials for schools to choose.

4. Strengthening the CFL Teacher Development

The "Volunteer Program for International Chinese Teachers" and "Measures for Certifying Teachers' Ability to Teach Chinese as a Foreign Language" will be implemented as ways to increase the number of CFL teachers and enhance their capacities.

5. Promotion of HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test)

Efforts will be made to improve the HSK test structure, enlarge the HSK test question database and develop new HSK tests, for the purpose of expanding the number of test takers and increasing the recognition of HSK certificates.

6. Building of CFL Teaching Bases

With an aim to boost domestic Chinese teaching and offer support for overseas Chinese teaching, more efforts will be put on the building of several domestic CFL Teaching Base Universities.

7. The "Chinese Bridge" Fund and Overseas Chinese Language Libraries
The "Chinese Bridge" Fund will be used to support Chinese teaching activities in other countries, to help overseas universities with Chinese programs to build Chinese language libraries and to donate Chinese books and materials to primary and secondary schools that offer Chinese courses.

8. The "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Language Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students

Beginning from 2002, the "Chinese Bridge" competition has been held for 3 straight times and a total of 186 contestants from 41 countries have come to China to take part in the finals. This year, there will be 100 contestants coming to China for the final round. In the future we will continue to build the reputation of this contest and make it a platform for young people all over the world to learn Chinese language and exchange Chinese culture knowledge.

III. Major Tasks of the Ministry of Education on CFL Teaching in 2005

Centering on the implementation of "Chinese Bridge" project, we will focus on the following tasks this year:

1. Establish the building standard and mode of "Confucius Institute" and put in place the management and evaluation mechanism.

2. Based on results of research and studies, work out the teacher training plan for both domestic and overseas programs for the next 5 years, improve the training mechanism and compile standardized training materials; Send abroad 1000 volunteer Chinese teachers and 100 government-funded Chinese teachers.

3. Evaluate, select and promote excellent Chinese teaching materials from home and abroad; formulate a teaching material development plan and feasible promotion plan for the next 5 years.

4. Reform HSK in light of the needs of overseas test takers and of the goal to scale up the number of test candidates; at the same time, develop other types of tests such as the "HSK for Business".

(China.org.cn June 15, 2005)