Chinese classes are included in the schedules of students from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and other countries; many young people in Morocco, Jordan and other countries love to sing Chinese songs and choose to work in China; and many young Arabs have given themselves Chinese names...... In recent years, the "Chinese fever" in Arab countries has continued to heat up. The increasingly close Sino-Arab friendship and cooperation have brought the hearts of the Chinese and Arab people closer together, and the "Chinese fever" reflects a vivid picture of mutual benefit and common development between China and the Arab States.
▲The picture shows the Egyptian young Asma Mustafa Ibrahim showing the word "heart" written with a brush. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
There are more and more "Chinese classrooms" in Arab countries
Last year, a video of a group of Saudi students holding a morning meeting in Chinese went viral on overseas social media, attracting widespread attention. In the video, students from King Bahah Fahd School in Saudi Arabia conduct a morning meeting in Chinese, with one of the students interpreting. Some netizens familiar with the situation left a message saying that such morning meetings were limited to speaking Arabic before that.
The video not only sparked heated discussions in Saudi Arabia, but was also widely reported by other Arab media outlets. The UAE's Gulf News newspaper said the school's innovative approach of encouraging students to hold morning meetings in Chinese was launched in the context of the Saudi education department's launch of an intensive Chinese teaching program aimed at improving students' Chinese skills, which many social media users expressed encouragement and praise.
In recent years, the "Chinese fever" has continued to heat up in Arab countries, and more and more people in Arab countries can write "Chinese characters" and love to speak "Chinese words". In Morocco, Dina, a girl born in the 90s, spread Chinese culture with authentic Chinese songs, which attracted many fans on the Internet; in Egypt, Yahya, a young teacher in the Department of Chinese at Suez Canal University, loved Chinese literature and translated and published a large number of Chinese books in more than 10 years; Xiao Ai, a young man from Jordan, fell in love with China after studying in China and finally chose to stay in Gansu to work...... Similar stories abound. What is even more surprising is that there are more and more "Chinese classrooms" in Arab countries.
In June 2023, the Confucius Institute at Prince Sultan University, jointly established by Prince Sultan University and Shenzhen University in Saudi Arabia, was officially inaugurated in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and the first Confucius Institute officially opened in Saudi Arabia. There are also a number of Confucius Institutes and independent Confucius Classrooms in many other Arab countries.
In addition to Sino-foreign Confucius Institutes, many Arab countries have also taken the initiative to increase the proportion of Chinese education in the national education system. At present, four Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia, have incorporated Chinese into their national education systems.
Saudi Arabia's "Okaz" newspaper reported that the Saudi education department has launched a series of incentives to encourage Chinese learning. For example, students participating in Chinese courses will be considered as volunteering; the Ministry of Education will select outstanding students nationwide for recognition and reward study trips to China.
▲The picture shows that at the 6th China-Arab States Expo, the guests learned about clean energy projects. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
"As schools in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia have successively offered Chinese majors and Chinese courses, the number of Chinese students has been rising, and the number of Arab students studying in China has been rising year after year. Saudi Arabia and other countries have also increased the introduction of Chinese teachers and Chinese learning materials. Wang Xiaoyu, associate researcher at the Center for Middle East Studies of Fudan University, said in an interview with this reporter that the "Chinese fever" that has emerged in Arab countries in recent years has shown the characteristics of strong development momentum, many young learners, and rapid promotion actions.
The "Chinese fever" stems from the need for China and Arab countries to strengthen cooperation and enhance understanding
Why have Arab countries set off a "Chinese fever"? Experts believe that the "Chinese fever" reflects the "China fever" and the "Sino-Arab cooperation fever."
The friendly exchanges between China and Arab countries have a long history and are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In particular, in the past 10 years, China-Arab cooperation has been deepened and fruitful. China has been the largest trading partner of Arab countries for many years, and Arab countries are important energy suppliers and economic and trade partners of China. The cooperation between China and Argentina in project contracting, industrial investment and connectivity has been further promoted. With the deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, China's approach of promoting peace through development has brought tangible benefits to the vast number of Arab countries and deepened political mutual trust and people-to-people ties between the two sides.
Wang Xiaoyu believes that the rise of "Chinese fever" in Arab countries is mainly driven by three factors. First, it is necessary to strengthen economic, trade, and scientific and technological cooperation. In the Belt and Road Initiative, language paves the way and culture comes first. At present, China has signed cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative with all 22 Arab countries and the Arab League. Every interconnection between China and Arab countries requires language communication, which to a certain extent strengthens the political will of Arab countries to promote their own Chinese education. Especially from the perspective of the people of Arab countries, the Belt and Road Initiative conforms to the development needs of the Arab side and brings benefits to the local people. Learning Chinese well, deepening economic and trade cooperation with China, and absorbing the mature experience of China's scientific and technological development have become the consensus of the local people. The second is to deepen people-to-people exchanges. In recent years, the "China Story" has attracted a large number of people from Arab countries, arousing the enthusiasm of Arab countries to learn from China's development philosophy. As more and more Chinese and Arab youths learn from each other through the Internet, Arab youth's desire to understand China and their interest in learning Chinese have been continuously stimulated. At the same time, under the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Arab countries have signed a series of cooperation agreements on education, science, culture and health, which have made the spillover effect and driving effect between people-to-people exchanges and economic and trade cooperation more significant, and promoted the further warming of Chinese education in Arab countries. The third is long-term development considerations. At the end of 2022, the China-Arab States, China-GCC and China-Saudi Arabia leaders' meetings were successfully held, which further strengthened the strategic choice of Arab countries to "look east". The root cause of the "Chinese fever" in Arab countries is the widespread recognition of the prospects for Sino-Arab cooperation. More and more Arabs believe that Chinese is a language with great international influence. The promotion of Chinese education in Arab countries is not only based on long-term development considerations, but also represents the true will of the general public to learn and accept Chinese.
Egypt's Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Sharif Youssef Ahmed Saleh, said that more and more people in Egypt are eager to understand China, and they hope to explore the charm of Chinese culture and feel China's development achievements through learning Chinese. Nowadays, many universities in Egypt offer Chinese majors, and Chinese teaching has become an important part of Egypt's national education system.
There are many more exciting changes. In recent years, the "Chinese fever" has taken the "Online Silk Road" construction express, some Chinese Internet enterprises have actively participated in the construction of online Chinese classrooms, mobile smart classrooms, etc., with the help of the Internet platform, established a special Chinese learning platform for Arab countries, opened language learning, Chinese exams, "Chinese + vocational skills" and other courses suitable for Chinese learners in Arab countries, and integrated advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and big data into the Chinese education innovation model.
"Benefiting from the continuous development of intelligent technology, the informatization of Chinese international education provides a more convenient learning platform and richer learning resources for the people of Arab countries, and attracts more Chinese lovers in Arab countries to learn through advanced teaching methods such as online Chinese classrooms and mobile smart classrooms." Wang Xiaoyu said.
The practical cooperation between China and Arab States has broad prospects and is worth looking forward to
The increasingly frequent exchanges between China and Arab countries in various fields have given rise to a "Chinese fever" and made Arab people fall in love with learning Chinese. As a carrier of civilizational exchanges, Chinese has enabled the people of Arab countries to have a deeper understanding of China, thereby promoting people-to-people ties and promoting Sino-Arab cooperation.
Wang Xiaoyu believes that the "Chinese fever" is in the ascendant in Arab countries, and will also strongly promote the cooperation between the two sides in the language and cultural industry and other related fields, including language training, translation and other language services, Chinese books, film and television and other overseas sales industries, as well as Chinese calligraphy, calligraphy and painting and other cultural peripheral products trade, etc., so as to consolidate the dissemination and influence of Chinese and Chinese language culture in Arab countries.
"With the steady development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and Arab countries in various fields, the 'Chinese Fever' will help the people of Arab countries to understand China's national conditions more deeply and diversely." In recent years, China and Arab countries have extensively exchanged and shared advanced technologies and development experiences in innovative technology, financial investment, poverty alleviation and digital infrastructure, which has greatly enhanced the application value of Chinese in bilateral practical cooperation. Wang Xiaoyu said.
The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, and the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum will be held in China. Analysts generally believe that the future of China-Arab pragmatic cooperation has broad prospects and is worth looking forward to.
Looking forward to China-Arab relations in 2024, Wang Guang, professor at Shanghai Foreign Chinese University and secretary-general of the China-Arab States Reform and Development Research Center, believes that China has established a comprehensive strategic partnership or strategic partnership with 14 Arab countries in 2023, and China-Arab relations are bound to achieve more fruitful results in 2024. In 2024, the two sides will continue to support each other and work in the same direction, and strive for new breakthroughs in China-Arab relations. The two sides will continue to implement the "Eight Common Actions" of China-Arab practical cooperation, continue to promote comprehensive cooperation in eight areas, including support for development, food security, health, green innovation, energy security, dialogue among civilizations, youth development, security and stability, and work together to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to better benefit the nearly 2 billion people on both sides. China and Arab States will jointly implement the Global Civilization Initiative and make greater contributions to jointly addressing global challenges. (End) (Original title: "Chinese fever" reflects "China-Arab cooperation fever")
Author/Yan Yu