MADRID, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) in Spain concluded Saturday with participants doubling from last year.

    This was the first time in Spain that the HSK was held at three universities in this European country, according to Chinese educational officials.

    And the number of native Spanish participants has exceeded that of the Chinese Spanish for the first time, they said.

    Some 250 participants took the test, a sharp increase from over 100 people recorded last year.

    Wang Zhiwei, an educational official with the Chinese Embassy in Madrid who came to supervise the HSK, said the Chinese language has drawn more and more attention in Spain.

    In 2003, only less than 10 universities offered Chinese learning courses, while the current number was more than 40, said Wang.

    Launched outside China in 1991, the HSK is a standardized test at the state level to assess the Chinese language proficiency of non-native speakers. The Chinese Ministry of Education has established a committee to supervise the test.