Both Chinese civilization and Arab civilization are treasures of human civilizations, and the exchanges between the two civilizations are long-standing, with the ancient Silk Road bearing witness to the rich history of their exchanges, mutual learning, and convergence. With the broadening and deepening of China-Arab cooperation in the economic and cultural fields, Chinese language education programs have also flourished in Arab states.
In 1993, the University of Khartoum, Sudan, opened a Chinese language program. In 1998, the Higher Institute of Languages, Tunis, University of Carthage, opened an undergraduate program in Chinese language, and in 2003, some Tunisian secondary schools offered an optional Chinese language course. Also, in 2004, the University of Jordan introduced an optional Chinese language course. China now has established Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in over 10 Arab states, while Tunisia (2004), Saudi Arabia (2019), the UAE (2019), and Egypt (2020) have also incorporated the Chinese language into their national education systems. Taking the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as examples, let's have a glimpse of the international Chinese language education development in Arab countries.
The UAE: "Chinese Language Program" is a flagship project of China-Arab States educational exchanges and a model for incorporating Chinese language into the national education system
The UAE is China's largest export market among Arab states, while China is the largest trading partner of the UAE. International Chinese language education in the UAE is characterized by its late emergence, rapid advancement and wide coverage. In 2006, Hamdan Bin Zayed School in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, pioneered the introduction of Chinese language courses, making it the first public primary and secondary school to introduce Chinese language teaching in the UAE and even in the Gulf region.
In 2016, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, proposed the opening of Chinese language courses in 100 schools in the UAE with the assistance of China, which was favored by the Chinese side. A series of breakthroughs have been achieved with close cooperation between China and the UAE. Later, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced to increase the number of schools offering Chinese language courses from 100 scheduled to 200.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education of the UAE signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Incorporation of Chinese Language into the Primary and Secondary Education System of the UAE" with the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as "CLEC"), a significant milestone of Chinese language education in the UAE stepping into a new stage of development. The UAE has actively carried out top-level design and included Chinese language education as an important component of the "UAE Vision 2021 and Centennial Plan 2071". The UAE Ministry of Education has specially set up the consultant post of Chinese language expert, established special funds to recruit more than 200 Chinese language teachers, and provided relevant program support for schools offering Chinese language courses.
In the same year, CLEC and the UAE Ministry of Education jointly developed the Chinese language syllabus and Chinese language textbook "Across the Silk Road", which was listed in the catalog of Chinese language textbooks designated by the UAE Ministry of Education, and the proportion of its usage exceeded 75%, marking a precedent for the teaching materials developed by the Chinese side to be recognized by the UAE Ministry of Education.
In October 2022, the Workshop for Teachers of UAE Chinese Language Teaching "Chinese Language Program" was successfully held in Abu Dhabi. A team of Chinese language experts dispatched by CLEC conducted workshops for a total of 51 teachers from 5 emirates in four thematic groups: kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, and senior high school. The event was firmly supported by the UAE Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Emirates Schools Establishment (ESE).
On October 13, 2023, the first "Chinese Bridge" Club in the GCC countries was established in Abu Dhabi. At the inauguration ceremony, Chinese Vice Minister of Education Chen Jie stated in his speech that that the "Chinese Language Program" is a program driven directly by the leaders of China and the UAE, and that since its official launch in 2019, it has yielded remarkable results and become a landscape of educational exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.
On October 17, 2023, a delegation led by H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Education of the UAE, visited CLEC. Prof. Ma Jianfei, Director-General of CLEC, and Mr. Hu Zhiping, Deputy Director-General of CLEC, met with the delegation, and the two sides conducted exchanges and reached consensus on the further promotion of the "Chinese Language Program" and the cooperation on language and cultural exchanges.
With the advancement of the "Chinese Language Program", 158 public schools in the UAE, up from 7 in 2017, are now offering Chinese language courses, with 54,000 students learning Chinese, accounting for 17% of the total number of students enrolled in public schools in the UAE. In just a few years of incorporating Chinese language into the national education system, the Ministry of Education of the UAE has completed the Chinese language teaching syllabus in cooperation with Chinese language teaching experts, realizing the full coverage of Chinese language teaching from kindergarten to high school standards, which is also the only Chinese language syllabus released by the Ministry of Education in the Middle East region at present.
Starting from scratch and developing constantly, Chinese language teaching in the UAE, pioneered by the "Chinese Language Program", has reached both quantitative and qualitative leapfrog development in a short period of time. The "Chinese Language Program" has also become a flagship project for Chinese language exchanges of "Belt and Road" countries, as well as a model for incorporating the Chinese language into the national education system worldwide.
Saudi Arabia: Constantly Promoting the Chinese Language Education
With the further deepening of the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership and the expansion of exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in various fields, the Saudi people's enthusiasm for learning Chinese language and understanding China has been on the rise. Under the continuous promotion of Saudi Arabia, the Chinese language education there has been officially recognized as part of the formal education system.
After his visit to China in 2019, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced the incorporation of Chinese language into Saudi Arabia's national education system in order to diversify the country's education, marking another major step forward in China-Saudi Arabia educational cooperation. In the same year, Dr. Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh, the Saudi Minister of Education, indicated at a conference on Chinese language education that the Chinese language could be expected to popularize rapidly in Saudi Arabia and become one of the most popular foreign languages in the country within a decade. He also expressed his positive outlook on the development of Chinese language education in Saudi Arabia, saying that the promotion of Chinese language education would strengthen the foundation for exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.
The Saudi government first piloted Chinese language education in the form of optional courses in eight high schools. On January 18, 2020, the Saudi Ministry of Education announced that Chinese language courses would be offered in eight high schools in the provinces of Riyadh, Eastern and Makkah from the start of the new semester on January 19. At the higher education level, King Saud University was the first to implement its Chinese language teaching initiative by opening a Chinese language program at the College of Languages and Translation, making it the first university in the Gulf region to offer such a program. And 2020 saw the establishment of the Center for Chinese Language Teaching and Cultural Exchanges at King Abdulaziz University, as well as the opening of the first HSK Test Center in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the College of Languages and Translation of the University of Jeddah has incorporated Chinese language into its educational programs.
On June 16, 2019, the HSK test was held for the first time at King Abdulaziz University.
In 2021, the Saudi Ministry of Finance announced that the Saudi Ministry of Education would offer more Chinese language courses at the secondary education level in 2022, with 746 schools scheduled for implementation.
In 2022, the "Chinese Bridge" competition was hosted for the first time in Saudi Arabia. Twelve contestants from King Abdulaziz University, King Saud University and Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University took part in the competition, demonstrating their passion for learning Chinese language and culture.
On July 20, 2022, the "Chinese Bridge" competition was held for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
On December 8, 2022, the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Chinese Language Education" was signed between China and Saudi Arabia. This is an important measure to further strengthen Chinese education cooperation between the two countries, following the announcement of the incorporation of the Chinese language into the national education system by HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2019, marking a new stage for both sides to deepen the content and expand the areas of cooperation.
On October 16, 2023, the "Implementation Agreement on Strengthening Cooperation in Chinese Language Education" was signed between CLEC and Saudi Ministry of Education, which was a concrete move to implement the “Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Chinese Language Education” between the Ministries of Education of both countries, under which both sides would carry out specific cooperation in the aspects of syllabus preparation, selection, training and dispatching of Chinese language teachers, cultivation and training of local Chinese language teachers, development of Chinese language teaching resources, and teaching quality evaluation.
Egypt: “Chinese Language Craze” Continues to Grow
Apart from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, "Chinese language craze" has also been on the rise in other Arab countries. Egypt is one of the pioneers of introducing Chinese language teaching, and since the 1950s, Chinese language courses have been offered in Egyptian universities one after another. With the strengthening of China-Egypt ties, the number of Egyptian students learning Chinese is on the rise.
On September 7, 2020, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Mr. Liao Liqiang, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, and Mr. Tarek Shawki, Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education, under which the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in upgrading the level of Chinese language teaching in Egypt, enriching the Chinese language teaching materials, optimizing the teaching approaches, and developing the teaching syllabus, and other aspects. The signing of the memorandum of understanding indicates that Chinese language has been formally incorporated into the Egyptian primary and secondary education system, and has become another foreign language available for Egyptian primary and secondary school students to choose after French, German, Spanish and Italian.
In June 2021, the "Chinese Bridge" Club in Cairo was inaugurated. Dr. Muhammad Ayman Ashour, Deputy Minister of Higher Education of Egypt, stated that young Egyptian students have developed a spontaneous craze for learning Chinese, with Chinese language emerging as one of the basic languages taught in Egyptian colleges and universities. And the club would serve as a bridge for the exchanges and benefit the youths of the two countries.
On October 14, 2023, the "Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening Cooperation in International Chinese Language Education between the Center for Language Education and Cooperation and Cairo University" was signed by CLEC and Cairo University. In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding, CLEC would provide assistance to Cairo University in carrying out training programs for local Chinese language teachers in Egypt and other Arab countries.
CLEC: Providing Active Support for the Comprehensive Development of Chinese Language Education in the Arab States
Language is a vital link for people-to-people bonds, and Chinese language education programs in Arab countries have seen rapid development, injecting new momentum for the mutual learning, exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Arab civilizations.
In order to promote the all-round development of Chinese language education in Arab countries, CLEC has been actively practicing the spirit of "one world, one family" by dispatching Chinese language education experts and teacher teams, cooperating in the compilation of Chinese language teaching syllabus and series of teaching materials, developing Chinese language proficiency test papers, setting up China Learning Centers of public institutions, hosting online winter/summer camps, and carrying out training for local Chinese language teachers, so as to keep improving the level of Chinese language teaching, perfecting related mechanisms and systems as well as enriching teaching resources, and further facilitating the implementation of Chinese language education in Arab states.
To meet the Chinese language learning demands of Arab learners, CLEC has established a comprehensive service platform for online Chinese language learning in the Arab region based on the concept of "Internet + Education", providing high-quality Chinese language teaching resources and standardized Chinese language courses in accordance with the needs of Chinese language learning at different levels, and organizing professional Chinese language teachers to conduct live lectures, thus contributing to the promotion of the sustainable and high-quality development of Chinese language education in the Arab countries.
Moreover, the first batch of "Chinese Bridge" summer camp for GCC countries in China was held from July to August 2023, hosted by CLEC, and organized by Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Dalian University of Technology, and Shandong Normal University. Through the "Chinese Bridge" summer camp, 68 college and high school students from Saudi Arabia and Qatar immersed themselves in Chinese language courses, experienced traditional Chinese culture, and visited Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Qufu and other famous historical and cultural cities in China.
In December 2023, during the World Chinese Language Conference, more than 20 government officials, diplomats, experts and scholars from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as more than 100 representatives from domestic and foreign educational institutions and Chinese education experts, attended the second China-GCC Language and Culture Forum jointly hosted by the CLEC and Beijing Language and Culture University. The guests shared their insights to provide new ideas, models, and measures for language and cultural exchange between China and GCC countries. The unveiling ceremony of the "China-GCC Biligual Library for People-to-people Cultural Exchanges and Mutual Learning" was held, which offers comprehensive and high-quality language and cultural learning resources and systematic knowledge integration for GCC countries and even the entire Arab world.
