Institute offers students hope for future

Sher Jan is the youngest of six children, but the 25-year-old Pakistani is expected to be the family breadwinner after graduating from the Confucius Institute in Islamabad next year.

"I want to be an interpreter. I speak Mandarin, Urdu and English, so I can work for Chinese companies in Pakistan," Sher said, confident despite an unemployment rate that is one of the top domestic concerns in the country.

Coming from the Hunza region in northern Pakistan, Sher saw many Chinese people working in his hometown when he was a boy.