Since he watched the Disney cartoon Mulan, the 11-year-old little boy from Aix-en-provence, South France just could not stop talking about China and the Great Wall for the past two years, and therefore his mother decided to let him take a Chinese course. Having found no suitable place to learn Chinese (in France, there have been only 24 elementary schools qualified to teach Chinese thus far), the mother had no choice but to apply for the one and only private Chinese class in Aix-en-provence. However, even with well-prepared application documents and great recommendations, the little boy is still on the waiting list.

I have found a 17-year-old girl named Justine through the National Centre for Distance Education(Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance/CNED), who has learnt three foreign languages, the first and second being English and German respectively, the third Chinese. Her mother said that in order to learn Chinese, Justine has applied a high school 60 kilometers away from home since it is the only senior high school qualified to teach Chinese. Amongst many other applicants, Justine really hoped that she would get admitted. Meanwhile, she has taken the optional Chinese courses offered by the CNED, and compared to other candidates, the students who have also taken these courses like her are much luckier. On September 3, 18,000 university students, 33,500 high school students and 4,500 elementary school students will return to their classrooms to continue their Chinese study. The number of people learning Chinese in 2013 has been 10% larger than that in 2012, and a 400% increase from 2003. From September 2013, all the 31 school districts in France will open Chinese language courses. To that end, early this year the Ministry of Education unprecedentedly provided 40 civil service positions for Chinese language teachers. In 2012, there were only 15!

JoëlBellassen, General Inspector of Chinese Language Teaching of French Ministry of National Education, said that in France Chinese language teaching has been developing very fast in many different areas, and in the next few years, the conflict between supply and demand will become much more acute. Chinese has jumped from the 9th sought-after foreign language to the 5th, following English, Spanish, German and Italian. “The crisis of drastic increase” has posed a challenge to the Ministry of National Education since now only one third of the 480 Chinese language teachers in high schools are national civil servants. In 2013, the preferential treatment granted by Ministry of National Education to the Chinese language teachers might result in more civil servant Chinese language teachers than contract ones for the first time ever.

Mr. Bellassen excitedly recounted the history of Chinese language teaching in France. In 1814, the College of France (College de France) launched the Chinese Chair, and then in 1840, theNational Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (InstitutNational des LanguesetCivilisationsOrientales/INALCO) started to teach the Chinese language. 18 years later, the Lycéepilote de Montgeron(the MontgeronPilot High School) opened Chinese courses for the first time, and since 1964 when France established diplomatic relations with China, a large number of French students have gone to China for study.

As one of the first batch of French students who went to Beijing for study with scholarships in 1964, Catherine Meusese, a Chinese language teacher of the Lycéepilote de Montgeron, has taught Chinese for over 30 years since her return to France. She recalled, “I had taught 130 students up to 1970. In 1966, the Ministry of National Education launched the Certificate of Aptitude for Teaching Staff of Secondary Education (Certificatd'Aptitude au Professorat de l'EnseignementSecondaire/CAPES) examination for Chinese language teachers, but it wasn’t until 1999 that Chinese language teachers were allowed to attend the Agrecation (Certificate of Aptitude for Teaching Staff of Senior High School)examination. Like several generations after me, I was so fascinated by the Chinese culture then, yet since 1990, China’s economy and the future career path have become what mostly attract the young to learn Chinese.”

Alice Ekman, a China expert of the College of France and an associate professor of the French Institute of International Relations(InstitutFrançais des Relations Internationales), said that his students choose to learn Chinese for many varied considerations, yet the most important motivation comes from China’s boosting economy and its related media reports. Chinese teaching is also popular in higher education--there have been 150 universities that have Chinese courses. Fifteen years ago, China ranked No. 6, but now it has become one of the top three countries-America, England and China-that European youngsters desire to go to. An increasing number of youngsters have come to realize that today to focus on Asia is of great importance in knowing about the world.

High school students also agree that to learn Chinese can serve some practical purposes. Jean Pierre Lorenzati, President of the FCAE (France Chine AsieÉducation), pointed out that even the first-graders in junior high schools understand the weight of China, and they are aware that products “Made in China” are everywhere, thus promoting the Chinese teaching in France. Although now only 1% of the high school students are studying Chinese, it is already remarkable and by no means can it be neglected.

I have also heard some other words from the parents of students, “To study Chinese can help my daughter get admitted to the top-notch school in Strasbourg. She has not chosen the school assigned by the académie since it cannot offer satisfying language courses, and my daughter wants to learn neither Latin nor Russian. It isn’t until today that people start to realize that to study Chinese can actually aid their children in attending better schools.”

Contrary to our assumption, learning Chinese is no longer a privilege solely possessed by rich families!

According to Mr. Bellassen, if a senior high school applies to open some Chinese international classes, they will take into account the location of the school. They usually give special consideration to the non-key schools since if these schools can set up some Chinese international classes, their status will be elevated, thus beneficial to a well-balanced development. President Antoine of Monet High School, situated in the 13tharrondissement of Paris, cannot agree more. With a drastic increase in the number of Asian students, in September 2013, besides the Chinese international classes, the school has made two more moves: the one is to change Chinese to the second foreign language from the third, and the other is to add some Chinese courses to the curriculum of Foundation Program for the first time.

Another noticeable trend is that the students start to learn Chinese at an ever younger age. As the only elementary school that provides a one-hour Chinese course every week, Ported’Ivry Elementary School (also situated in the 13th arrondissement of Paris) has 250 students, and half of them are learning Chinese. Students of the Chinese international classes are required to learn two extra hours, half of whom are French-born Chinese but can only speak dialects instead of Putonghua (the standard Mandarin). President Jacque said that in the context of 20% of French children struggling with their study, these students who have learned Chinese can successfully pass the examination and get into high schools because they have a trump card in their hands--Chinese! They will continue to study Chinese in high school. What really makes this elementary school proud is that every year it has several students who got admitted to the prestigious Louis le Grand High School (Lycée Louis le Grand). It is now safe to say that a good mastery of Chinese paves the way for academic success!