PARIS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- With the number of people learning Chinese world-wide on the rise, France is to build its seventh Confucius Institute.

    A non-profit educational organization, the Confucius Institute offers Chinese language lessons, trains Chinese teachers, and tests Chinese language proficiency.

    The number of people learning Chinese around the world had increased between 20 and 30 percent a year, Zhao Guocheng, Deputy Director of the Chinese Language Council International, told Xinhua.

    The Confucius Institute's mission is to help world understand Chinese language and culture. About 125 institutes have been set up in more than 50 countries and regions.

    On Wednesday experts from the Chinese Language Council International (CLCI) on Wednesday were here for Expolangues 2007, where teaching methods in more than 60 languages were on display.

    The CLCI wanted to show the development of Chinese teaching around the world and promote the culture of the Chinese language, Zhao said.

    At the expo, CLCI signed an agreement with the French region of Alsace to build a Confucius Institute, the seventh in the country in less than two years.

    It shows the increasing need for Chinese teaching in the country, and also reminds us to further improve the level of the language teaching, Zhao said.

    About 200 delegations from more than 20 countries took part in the 25th Expolangues which held from Jan. 24 to 27.