Chinese marks path to future

Conference points out value of language to career prospects

The importance of learning Chinese was celebrated at the opening of the 11th annual National Chinese Language Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, the largest gathering of Chinese language education practitioners in North America.

The 1,300 officials, educators and Chinese language experts who attended the reception and banquet for the three-day event on Thursday heard from a number of speakers, including Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Utah Senator Howard A. Stephenson and John Holden, the CEO of US-China Strong Foundation, and were entertained with a Sichuan face-change performance by local students.