Interest in learning Chinese abounds

Egyptians' interest in the Chinese language has grown as trade between China and Egypt reaches record highs. But as more students choose to learn Chinese and more universities start Chinese departments, there is great shortage of Chinese teachers in Egypt.

Omayma Ghanem, a professor of the Chinese language at Ain Shams University, which opened its Chinese department in the 1950s, said there were only 11 Chinese majors in her class when she graduated from Ain Shams in 1983. Now there are more than 2,000.

When Cairo University started its Chinese department in 2004, it had 20 students - now there are 60 in each year of study. And the number of students in Cairo University's Confucius Institute, launched in 2007, grew from 30 to 1,200 a year, said Rehab Mahmoud, director of the university's Department of Chinese Language and Literature and dean of the Confucius Institute. Egypt now has two Confucius Institutes - the other is in Suez Canal University.