A test designed to assess foreigners' Chinese-language speaking proficiency will be held in more Chinese cities in June, after a trial test in two cities last year, the newly-established Oral Chinese Proficiency Test Commission (OCPTC) said Monday.

Known as HKC, the computer-based test will be held twice a year, in June and December, in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing municipalities, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Hubei provinces, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the commission based in north China's Tianjin Municipality said.

The new test will complement the HSK test, a national standardized written benchmark for the Chinese language, according to Wang Dengfeng, vice director of the National Chinese Language Commission.

The HKC test will help universities and companies assess students' and employees' language proficiency, as the HSK cannot detect test takers who read and understand Chinese but cannot speak it.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2010)