A graduate student named Liu at prestigious Fudan University in this major economic engine of east China, cherished a dream to study abroad while teaching foreigners Chinese.

Over the weekend, Liu took China's first examination of the capability of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, which was held simultaneously in 19 Chinese cities.

The exam was established at the beginning of this year by the leadership office for teaching Chinese as a foreign language under the Ministry of Education, aiming to standardize the teaching business. Only when a person passes the exam and gains related certificate, will he/she be allowed to teach foreigners Chinese at home or abroad. Its predecessor, started in 1990, was called the qualification exam on Chinese language teachers for foreigners.

Before entering the exam hall in Shanghai, Liu received a short message from several of his students from the Republic of Korea, "Wish our teach great success in the exam." The message and the address of "teacher" helped him feel a surge of warmth.

"Actually, I only gave them some instructions on Chinese learning. If I pass the exam, I can be called a Chinese-language teacher and can go to anywhere outside China to teach the language," Liu said.

Along with China's fast economic growth, Chinese language has drawn increasing attention.

It is reported that nearly 40 million foreigners are studying Chinese, with courses of the language launched at 2,300-plus universities across the world. Annually, 60,000 foreign students enroll at colleges on the Chinese mainland to study the language.

The economically robust Yangtze River Delta, on which Shanghai perches, has attracted more and more foreigners to make investments, find jobs, and study and live there, boosting the development of the Chinese-language education. Some observers estimate the delta accounts for about one third of the total foreigners studying Chinese on the mainland.

The number of qualified teachers for the language, however, is still limited, which is estimated at around 3,000 nationwide.

According to the school of international cultural exchange of Fudan University, which was Shanghai's only venue of the examination on capability of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, over 1,300 people took the examination this year, nearly 300 more than the year-earlier level.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2005)