Over the weekend, many foreigners around the country sat the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). Perhaps the most unusual of these were six foreign inmates at the Shanghai Qingpu Prison, including three who already passed the elementary and intermediate level exam five months ago.

The three-hour exams -- divided into three levels of increasing difficulty -- were overseen by prison officers and staff members from the Chinese Proficiency Test Center. The foreign prisoners hail from four different nations, namely South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

Prison official Xiao Limin explained that as the only prison in Shanghai that holds foreigners, Qingpu Prison uses Chinese culture for rehabilitation.

"The six foreign inmates have given a great morale boost to other convicts with similar desires to study Chinese in prison," he said.

A South Korean convict, serving life for manslaughter, will have the single honor of becoming the first foreign inmate to earn an advanced HSK certificate after passing the elementary and intermediate exams last December.

(Shanghai Daily April 23, 2007)