More Canadians saying ni hao

Chinese voices are increasingly being heard in Coquitlam, British Columbia, through the Confucius Classroom program where 450 local residents, young and old, are currently studying conversational Mandarin.

On a recent Tuesday in the Vancouver suburb city, the program, which is funded by the Chinese government through the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban) unveiled a major acquisition sure to benefit thousands of Canadians for years to come.

At a presentation held at the Coquitlam Public Library's Poirier branch, staff displayed just a small selection of the 1 million Canadian dollars ($840,000) worth of Chinese books, DVDs and dictionaries that have been donated by China to be placed in local high schools and libraries.