A Chinese language learning craze around the globe has created an urgent demand for teachers from China. Teaching in a foreign country has become a coveted opportunity among Chinese teachers.

Hanban is the executive boy of the Chinese Language Council International and is committed to making Chinese language and culture teaching resources and services available to the world.

The staff here are very busy this year. They have received a huge amount of correspondence and E-mail from around the world asking for Chinese teachers and soliciting assistance to set up Confucius Institutes.

Right now, the number of people learning Chinese around the world has surpassed fifty million. About 25 hundred universities in more than one hundred countries have set up a Chinese major.

In Japan and South Korea, more than 95 percent of universities have a Chinese major. In the US and France, Chinese has entered the compulsory or elective courses in their mainstream universities.

But due to the shortage of Chinese teachers, many schools are forced to enroll fewer students, and many cannot provide a Chinese language course.

Since 2004, China has sent more than ten thousand teachers and language volunteers to one hundred countries. But it's still far from meeting the demand.

Experts estimate that by 2010, there will be nearly one hundred million people learning Chinese across the world, and the number of teachers needed will be about five million.