Middle East Perspective | All Middle Schools in Saudi Arabia Set up Special Time slots for Teaching Chinese "China fever" Continuously Rises in the Middle East

On August 24th, the 15th special press conference of BRICS leaders announced the invitation to six countries to officially become members of the BRICS family, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, all located in the Middle East region. In this context, the enthusiasm of the people in the Middle East to learn Chinese continues to rise.

Joining the "BRICS" to promote Saudi Arabia's "Chinese fever"

Recently, over 7 million students across Saudi Arabia returned to school to start a new academic year. According to multiple media outlets such as the Saudi Gazette and the Al Ocaz newspaper, the Saudi government has included Chinese as the second official foreign language in its teaching curriculum and requires all secondary schools to allocate the fourth teaching period on Sundays and Mondays specifically to Chinese language teaching. The education department has also provided information and videos on Chinese teaching methods to all secondary schools, clarifying the principles, importance, and specific teaching objectives of Chinese teaching.

△ In 2022, Saudi Arabia held its first "Chinese Bridge" competition

In addition, the Saudi education department has launched a series of incentive measures to encourage Chinese language learning. According to the Okaz newspaper, students participating in Chinese language courses will be considered as participating in volunteer service. After completing the course, they will receive an additional 10 hours of volunteer work. The top five students with the best academic performance will be recognized by the school. The Ministry of Education will also select 16 outstanding students, each male and female, nationwide to be commended, and will reward them with a study tour to China.

The "Chinese fever" in the Middle East continues to heat up

According to data released by the Chinese Ministry of Education on August 16th, more than 180 countries and regions around the world are conducting Chinese language teaching, with 81 countries incorporating Chinese into their national education systems. There are over 80000 schools and training institutions offering Chinese language courses, and over 30 million people are learning Chinese. The "going global" of Chinese language and culture has made new progress, and in the Middle East, the "Chinese fever" is not unique to Saudi Arabia.

In February 2007, the first Confucius Institute in the Middle East, the Confucius Institute at St. Joseph's University, was officially established in Lebanon. Over the following decade, Confucius Institutes sprung up like mushrooms after rain and were gradually unveiled and operated in many Arab countries. As of October 2022, 15 Arab countries have established Chinese language departments in universities, and 13 Arab countries have established 20 Confucius Institutes and 2 independent Confucius classrooms. On June 4, 2023, the Confucius Institute jointly built by Prince Sultan University of Saudi Arabia and Shenzhen University held its unveiling ceremony in Riyadh, and the first officially listed Confucius Institute in Saudi Arabia was put into operation.

△ The Confucius Institute of Prince Sultan University in Saudi Arabia held its unveiling ceremony

Not only Sino foreign joint Confucius Institutes, but also Middle Eastern countries are actively increasing the proportion of Chinese education in their national education systems. Since 2004, universities in Egypt have started teaching Chinese, and in recent years, a total of 16 universities have established Chinese language departments or taught Chinese in their courses. In September 2022, the Egyptian Ministry of Education launched a pilot project to include Chinese as an elective foreign language in the curriculum of 12 secondary schools nationwide; Starting from 2019, the United Arab Emirates has opened Chinese language classes in 100 schools within the country, teaching Chinese from first grade to twelfth grade. 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 January 2023, Iranian Minister of Education Nuri stated that as China's global influence continues to strengthen and Iran China relations deepen, Iran will begin incorporating Chinese into its national education system from 2024.

Behind the "Chinese fever" in the Middle East, "China fever" is on the rise

Throughout human history, the influence of a language often matches the level of economic development and progress of relevant countries, and behind the "Chinese fever" in the Middle East is the continuous increase of China's influence in the region and even globally.

Since this year, under the active mediation of China, the Middle East has ushered in a "tide of reconciliation": Saudi Arabia has resumed diplomatic relations with Iran, the Syrian Foreign Minister has visited Saudi Arabia for the first time in 12 years, positive progress has been made in the peace process in Yemen, Qatar and Bahrain have decided to resume diplomatic relations, Türkiye and Egypt have improved bilateral relations... China has provided China's solutions for Middle East countries to maintain regional peace, eliminate the root causes of conflict, and achieve long-term peace and stability, and also plays an increasingly important role in Middle East security.

The solid political mutual trust is driving the continuous improvement of economic cooperation. With the proposal of jointly building the "the Belt and Road" for 10 years, Chinese enterprises, investors and businessmen from China have spread throughout the Middle East. In 2020, China replaced the European Union as the largest trading partner of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In 2022, the total trade volume between China and the GCC countries reached 315.8 billion US dollars. In 2022, China's trade volume with Middle Eastern countries reached 507.152 billion US dollars, maintaining its position as the largest trading partner in the Middle East while increasing by 27.1% year-on-year. Among them, China's exports to Middle Eastern countries reached 228.9 billion US dollars and imports reached 278.2 billion US dollars, increasing by 16.4% and 37.6% year-on-year, respectively. With the continuous warming of bilateral trade between China and the Middle East, RMB settlement is also playing an increasingly important role.

The 10th Entrepreneurship Conference of the China Arab Cooperation Forum was held in Riyadh

As a result, journalists have personally experienced the popularity of Chinese in the Middle East. More and more locals are greeting Chinese people in Chinese, and many commercial and public places are also using Chinese signs. At the 10th Entrepreneur Conference of the China Arab Cooperation Forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in June 2023, the reporter made a simple statistic that nearly one-third of local entrepreneurs who participated in the conference can already communicate in Chinese for simple daily communication.

In addition to its political and economic influence, China is also an important tourist source country in the Middle East region. In 2018, Dubai established the "Embrace China" Executive Committee, with one of its main tasks being to cooperate with the visa free arrangements reached between the Chinese government and the UAE government, attract Chinese tourists, and provide relevant services. Driven by the Dubai World Expo, Qatar World Cup, and other initiatives, the tourism industry in the Middle East is accelerating its recovery. In March 2023, the Saudi Tourism Authority made its first trip to China to promote tourism, hoping to attract 3.9 million Chinese tourists annually by 2030, and it is expected that China will become one of the country's three major tourist markets.

△ In February 2023, the United Arab Emirates welcomed the first outbound travel group to visit the country after the resumption of China's pilot program

It is precisely because of the increasingly frequent exchanges between China and various fields in the Middle East that the "China fever" has emerged, driving various industries and streets to ignite the "Chinese fever". As a carrier of cultural exchange, Chinese has made the understanding of China more diverse for people in various Middle Eastern countries, thereby enhancing public relations and increasing China's popularity in the Middle East. An Egyptian female student who is learning Chinese said during a conversation with reporters that she and her classmates will not only learn Chinese well themselves, but also teach more people how to learn Chinese in the future. "Perhaps one day, everyone can smoothly use Chinese in the Middle East.".

Producer | Molly

Producer | Li Chao

Reporter | Zhang Zhuoya