Every Wednesday, the volunteering teacher Lai Hanqi of Confucius Institute at Chulalongkorn University will receive a group of particular students, those reporters and editors who come from the main English Newspaper The Bangkok post. Why do English editors of Thailand learn Chinese? With the doubt, the reporters go into their classes recently.
The editor of The Bangkok post, Song Huixian told the reporters that Chinese is used worldwide; he wants to know more about Chinese through study cause in some working place, and it will be more convenient if the reporter can use Chinese to communicate.
The Chinese learning-trend has got popular from campus to the whole society. Nowadays, from the royalty to the government official; from Civil servants to travel agents in service sector, the whole Thailand is in a great Chinese-learning trend. The reporters have got to know that many Confucius institute in Thailand have begun to set up Chinese-learning classes for the Thailand royalty and many governmental departments such as the Immigration Office, the airport custom, the ministry of education and so on.
The transition of the Chinese-learning development in Thailand can be reflected in a set of data. China's ambassador Chen yongshan of Thailand shows that, in 2003, the number of the volunteering Chinese teachers who came to Thailand is 23;in 2013,the number has up to 1683; during the ten years, China has sent 8722 Chinese-teaching volunteers to Thailand in total.
Chen yongshan also showed that, with the increase of the economic and trade exchange, more and more people in Thailand have realized the importance of learning Chinese. Deputy secretary general of the ministry of the education in Thailand said to the reporter, with China’s economic power and influence increasing in Asia, Chinese will surely become the second most important language after English.
During living in Thailand for one and half a year, the reporters have heard many times that the leading figures in some industries signed with emotion about Thailand lacking in the Chinese language talent. The Thailand premier Yingla appealed to more Chinese teacher to teach in Thailand when he attended the launching ceremony of the Chinese-teaching volunteer program. Chen Yongshan said, China and Thailand will establish the comprehensive strategic partnership and education will be identified as key fields of bilateral strategic cooperation.