Special Chinese classes open in Guangzhou

A special class with 56 international students from 32 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative was launched at the College of Chinese Language and Culture, Jinan University on July 31.

The class, founded with the help from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangzhou Committee, is aimed at teaching professional Chinese for people from Belt and Road countries who are members of foreign associations in Guangzhou or work on big projects such as building roads, railways and industrial parks.

The students will be taught Elementary Chinese, Engineering Chinese and Business Chinese.

"The class features an immersion teaching method which means all of our time apart from sleeping, we use Chinese to communicate," said a student who hopes to become fluent in Chinese within six months.

With the national strategy of Belt and Road Initiative pushing forward, more and more domestic companies are going global and hiring a lot of foreign workers. The workers wish to learn Chinese and know more about Chinese culture when they are employed in Chinese enterprises, making learning Chinese a trend in these countries, according to Wang Xudong, director of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangzhou Committee . 

Wang added that it is great that Guangzhou, a city of business along the Maritime Silk Road, has taken the initiative to launch a professional Chinese training class in the city.