As early as the 1950s, Chinese education entered Arab countries such as Egypt (1954), Tunisia (1977), Mauritania (1987), and Sudan (1993), gradually offering Chinese education in universities. After the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, with the deepening of China Arab relations, Chinese language education in Arab countries has also reached a new level. According to statistics, as of October 2022, 15 Arab countries have opened Chinese language departments in universities, and 13 Arab countries have established 20 Confucius Institutes and 2 Confucius Classrooms. In recent years, Chinese language education in Arab countries has not only experienced unprecedented development in scale and quantity, but also presented new characteristics and innovative development. The initial age for learning Chinese is getting younger and younger. Compared to the traditional Chinese education that mainly focused on college students, Arab students are now able to start learning Chinese earlier. In 2003, Tunisia became the first Arab country to incorporate Chinese into high school education and college entrance examination subjects. Subsequently, in 2019, Saudi Arabia included Chinese as a second foreign language in its teaching curriculum and required all secondary schools to allocate the fourth teaching period on Sundays and Mondays specifically to Chinese language teaching. Similarly, starting from 2019, the United Arab Emirates has opened Chinese language classes in 100 schools within the country, teaching Chinese from the first grade of elementary school until the third year of high school. As of the end of 2022, there are 158 public primary and secondary schools in the United Arab Emirates offering Chinese language courses, with a student population of over 54000. In September 2022, the Egyptian Ministry of Education also launched a pilot project to include Chinese as an elective foreign language in the curriculum of 12 secondary schools nationwide. Saida Amli is a Tunisian Chinese language teacher whom I know, who has been engaged in Chinese language education in middle school for more than 15 years. She observed that in recent years, with the increasing influence of China, Tunisians have attached more and more importance to Chinese, hoping that their children can learn Chinese from middle school or even elementary school. "When I first started working, there were relatively few Tunisian students who wanted to learn Chinese. But now, children are more interested in Chinese. Many students continue to choose Chinese majors after learning Chinese in high school, and some even pursue master's and doctoral degrees all the way to college," said Saida. But she believes that a major challenge faced by foreign students when learning Chinese at an early age is the writing of Chinese characters. "However, as long as we mix education with entertainment and make them feel the beauty of Chinese culture and the stories behind Chinese characters, they will develop a strong interest in Chinese characters." The Chinese training market, which emerged with the rapid development of China Arab economic and trade relations, has increased the demand for Chinese talents in Arab countries. Students in public schools are no longer the only target of Chinese language education in Arab countries. Many Arabs hope to learn Chinese for various needs such as business, work, and study. So, a brand new Chinese training market emerged and gradually sparked a craze in many Arab countries. Ahmad Said, President of Egypt's Hikmat Cultural Group and Senior Practitioner in the Publishing Industry, has been dedicated to China Arab exchanges for many years and has seized the opportunity of Chinese tropical culture. In 2019, he established the "BAC Academy" Chinese training platform.
Edit：Li Ling Responsible editor：Chen Jie
Source：People's Daily
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