The emergence of China as an economic superpower

In Korea there are 160,000 students studying Chinese, up nearly two thirds over the past five years.

In Japan, more than 500 high schools off Chinese language courses - about 20,000 high school students are enrolled and do no better at Chinese than they do at English - but they try.

England offers a Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi - Chinese Language Level Test - it has seen a 57% increase in those who sit for this test in the past 5 years.

The Chinese People's Daily reported that the Chinese Ministry of Education says there are more than 30 million people studying Chinese.

More than 2500 universities in 100 countries are offering courses.

It reminds me of an American family that adopted a Chinese baby. As soon as they came home from China with the baby they stopped by a local Jr. college to enroll in Chinese classes.

When asked why they responded:

"We just adopted a Chinese baby and when she grows up we want to be able to talk to her."

Many foreign companies have 'adopted' a Chinese city, company, whatever. Well, now I guess that they want to talk to their company after it grows up.

For whatever reason, more people are studying Chinese.

Are you one of them?