Scholarships set to spread language

The Confucius Institute, which teaches Chinese language and culture overseas, will triple the number of scholarships it offers next year in a bid to encourage more foreigners to study and teach the disciplines, an institute spokesperson said on Friday.

Xu Lin, director general of the institute, said in the lead-up to the fourth Confucius Institute Conference, which runs from Dec 11 to 13 in Beijing, that the government will provide 3,000 scholarships to foreign teachers and students next year, up from this year's 1,000.

Successful applicants will get 42,900 yuan a year for the two-year program. In return, they must commit to spend at least five years teaching Chinese to foreigners, either in China or their home country.