Every three days, a Confucius institute was founded in a foreign country over the past year, said Xu Lin, a senior official in charge of Chinese teaching overseas.

This demand for learning Chinese was initiated at the 1st International Conference on Chinese Language held in Beijing in July, 2005.

The first group of 25 Confucius institutes around the world were officially acknowledged by the government in 2005, and the number has increased to 123 in 49 countries and regions.

Named after the famous ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, the institutes have replaced the Chinese Language Centres around the world.

At Xu's office, the Office of Chinese Language Council International (OCLCI), applications for establishing Confucius institutes by foreign universities arrive every day.

"The increase in applications is a result of the surging demand for Chinese learning, as more and more people realize the important role China plays in the world," Xu said.

Statistics show that in 2003, 200 primary and middle schools in the United States taught Chinese. Today, the figure has tripled.

In 2005, about 120,000 took Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), a national-level test of Chinese proficiency for non-native speakers. Last year the figure doubled.

HSK is seen by many people as equivalent to TOEFL in the United States.

The Ministry of Education said 40 million people are learning Chinese the world over, but predicts the figure will top 100 million by 2010.

Xinhua

(China Daily 01/03/2007 page2)