A British boy coming to China with a Chinese language summer camp shows the Chinese characters he learns to write on his arm. The words read "Love China". Photo is taken on August 7 2004, Xiamen. [newsphoto/file]

    BEIJING, July 21 -- The first World Chinese Conference, for Chinese speakers from around the globe, opened in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday.

    "Chinese has become a real international language, and it has shown great practical value," said Joel Bel-lassen, inspector-general of Chinese teaching for the French Ministry of Education.

    According to Bel-lassen, when the last school year began in 2004, the number of secondary school students taking Chinese lessons increased by 22 per cent in France. Some areas even witnessed a growth of 35 per cent.

    "Learning Chinese has become a key to good jobs," said Bel-lassen. Even an advertisement on the streets of Paris says: "Go and learn Chinese! That means opportunities and fortune in the coming dozens of years."

    The language fever is not confined to France. More than 30 million people outside China are learning the language, and about 2,500 overseas colleges in 100 countries offer courses.

    "Our survey shows there already exists a strong interest in learning Chinese among high school students in the United States," said Gaston Caperton, president of the US College Board.

    "To learn Chinese fosters a deeper mutual understanding among our next generations who create and share the same future."

    In Canada, Chinese has become the third most spoken language, after English and French, according to Joseph Caron, Canadian ambassador to China.

    "China has been a key player in the global economy with growing importance," Caron said. "The language is an important means of fostering communication within the context of global multi-culturalism."

    Representatives from Ethiopia and Singapore also stressed the popularity of Chinese in their countries.

    China is doing its part by seeking closer co-operation with educational institutes overseas.

    "China has an unshirkable responsibility for language teaching overseas," said State Councillor Chen Zhili, addressing the opening of the conference.

    With the development of Chinese in a multi-cultural world as its theme, the three-day conference has attracted 342 representatives from more than 70 countries as well as 175 delegates from China itself.

    The conference will discuss topics such as Chinese language development policies in countries around the world, the improvement of the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) and theoretical studies on teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

    (Source: China Daily)