China News Agency, Jakarta, June 23rd: How can Chinese language teaching promote "you come and go" between China and Indonesia?
——Interview with Liao Guirong, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Malang National University, Indonesia
China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
What twists and turns has Chinese teaching experienced in Indonesia?
How to promote "you come and I go" between the two countries in the construction of the "Belt and Road"?
Liao Guirong, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Malang National University in Indonesia and the editor-in-chief of the book "You Come and I Visit Indonesia", analyzed this in an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions" recently.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service: What kind of twists and turns have Chinese language teaching experienced in Indonesia?
Liao Guirong:
Indonesia is the country with the largest number of overseas Chinese in the world, and it is also one of the earliest countries in the world to initiate Chinese language teaching, but its Chinese language teaching has also experienced ups and downs and vicissitudes.
Chinese language teaching in Indonesia started in Mingcheng Academy, founded in 1690.
Until 1900, its Chinese teaching was generally carried out in the form of free school, and the teaching objects were mainly children of overseas Chinese.
In 1901, "Bacheng Chinese Association Overseas Chinese School" was established, marking the beginning of modern Chinese language teaching in Indonesia.
After that, educational institutions such as Java Learning Martial Arts Association and Netherlands-India Overseas Chinese Student Affairs Association were successively established. Chinese language teaching in Indonesia has entered a period of rapid development.
After Japan occupied Indonesia in the 1940s, local Chinese teaching entered a state of stagnation.
Indonesia became independent in 1945, and Chinese language teaching ushered in a golden period of development. At its peak, the country had over 1,500 Chinese schools.
In the mid-1960s, the Suharto government announced the ban on all Chinese schools in Indonesia, freezing and taking over the assets of the schools; followed by a ban on speaking Chinese and carrying printed materials with Chinese characters, Chinese education was completely banned in Indonesia.
China and Indonesia have also cut off diplomatic relations.
In 1990, China and Indonesia resumed diplomatic relations. After Suharto stepped down in 1998, the Indonesian government began to loosen Chinese education.
At that time, Chinese teaching in Indonesia had been completely interrupted for 32 years, and the vast majority of Indonesian Chinese in two or even three generations did not understand Chinese.
In 1999, President Habibie issued a presidential decree to "unfreeze" Indonesian Chinese education; in the same year, the elected Wahid government began to implement democratic reforms and Chinese education recovered.
In May 2001, the education departments of China and Indonesia signed a cooperation agreement on holding the Chinese Language Proficiency Test (HSK) in Indonesia, which has become a milestone in Indonesian Chinese education.
The Ministry of Education of Indonesia stipulates that all subjects with syllabus are legal subjects of national education.
In 2004, the Indonesian Chinese syllabus was completed, and Chinese was identified as a legitimate subject in the national education system.
Since then, Chinese education in Indonesia has quickly regained its vigor like a persevering grass in spring. Chinese schools have resumed operation one after another, and Chinese cram schools have sprung up everywhere.
Especially under the influence of the soaring economic value of Chinese language, the upsurge of learning Chinese has also extended to non-Chinese people. Many local governments stipulate that schools must teach Chinese; some Indonesian schools with a long-term vision have cooperated with Chinese institutions of higher learning to introduce Chinese teachers and set up Chinese language. Professional, offering Chinese courses.
2019 Chinese Bridge Indonesia Finals.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
In 2010, 6 Confucius Institutes were established successively in Jakarta Alazar University, Bandung Malanada Christian University, Surabaya National University, Sulawesi Hasanuddin University, Kalimantan Tanjongbura University and Malang National University. Listed, the Confucius Institute at Trinity University in March 2019 and the Tourism Confucius Institute at Udayana University in Bali in April 2021 were established successively, opening a new situation for Chinese education in Indonesia.
In 2019, students from the Confucius Institute at the National University of Malang in Indonesia took a photo when they went to the winter camp in China.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
China News Service: What is the current situation of Chinese language teaching in Indonesia?
Liao Guirong: At
present, Chinese language teaching in Indonesia has ushered in another golden period of rapid development, but it is still far from meeting the needs of Indonesia's economic and social development.
With the deepening of exchanges and cooperation between China and Indonesia in various fields, especially the increasingly close economic and trade cooperation and the lively people-to-people and cultural exchanges, the demand for technical talents who are proficient in Chinese has increased rapidly in all parts of Indonesia. Government departments and citizens have recognized the importance of mastering Chinese. sex.
As far as tourism is concerned, before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, China was already Indonesia's largest source of international tourists.
According to data from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, the average spending of Chinese tourists during their visit to Indonesia ranks first among tourists from other countries.
In order to attract and serve Chinese tourists, many tourist attractions in Indonesia have strengthened the training of Chinese tour guides and the setting of Chinese signs. Many tourist cities and tourist attractions use the ability to provide Chinese services as a "signboard" for tourism promotion, and tourism practitioners learn Chinese became a craze.
At present, people who understand Chinese have become the "sweet pastry" in the Indonesian job market.
There is currently a lot of competition for employment in Indonesia, and many young people can't find jobs. However, the supply of talents who can master Chinese and Indonesian bilingualism is in short supply and there is a huge gap.
This provides a broad market for Chinese language teaching.
Weak teachers are the biggest constraint on Chinese language teaching in Indonesia at present. The number of outstanding teachers is small and most of them are concentrated in international schools with expensive fees in developed cities.
China News Agency reporter: What role does Chinese language teaching play in the "you come and I go" between China and Indonesia?
Liao Guirong
: Chinese language teaching is a process of cultural communication and integration between China and the world, as well as a process of building the foundation and consensus for mutual understanding and understanding between the world and China.
Chinese teaching spreads Chinese culture to all parts of the world, and also brings cultures from all over the world back to China.
Indonesian middle school students went to the Confucius Institute at Malang National University to experience paper-cutting.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
Indonesia is an important country along the “Belt and Road”. In the process of jointly building the “Belt and Road” between China and Indonesia, Chinese language teaching has played an important and fundamental role.
On the one hand, Chinese teaching itself is a wonderful chapter of "you come and I go" in China and Indonesia; on the other hand, Chinese teaching lays the foundation for the "you come and I go" between the two countries, and promotes the increasingly popular "you come and I go".
Taking the city of Malang with a population of only 500,000 as an example, due to the establishment of the Confucius Institute and the expansion of Chinese language teaching, the city has become the epitome of the frequent "you come and go" between China and Indonesia.
After the establishment of the Confucius Institute at the National University of Malang, it has created a Chinese major, opened a Chinese language course for non-Chinese majors, and provided Chinese training for its affiliated kindergarten and primary school teachers; Diya University and Pravijaya University have cooperated to establish teaching points; cooperated with Mazhong University to open a Chinese major; organized cultural experience classes and cultural experience camps for many local middle schools, and opened Chinese classes and cultural experience for schools in need. Lectures; connect Chinese-funded enterprises with local schools, and facilitate Chinese-funded enterprises to provide Indonesian students with training and employment opportunities; help local schools to establish cooperative relations with Chinese universities, organize educational officials to visit China, and go to China to experience summer and autumn Winter camp, helping local students apply to study in China, helping Chinese students to participate in international summer camps in Indonesia and apply for studying in Indonesia, etc.
China News Agency reporter: What is the prospect of Chinese language teaching in Indonesia? How can we develop better?
Liao Guirong
: Indonesia has a population of over 270 million, including about 20 million overseas Chinese, which is the country with the largest number of overseas Chinese in the world.
Since the late 1990s, especially since the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013, China-Indonesia friendly relations have shown a sound trend of all-round progress in all fields.
In 2017, Indonesia established the Association of Chinese Departments in Colleges and Universities, aiming to strengthen the cooperation between Chinese educational institutions and lead the way for Chinese educational institutions to cooperate with relevant Chinese institutions.
Chinese language teaching relies on and serves the development of bilateral relations.
At present, the development strategies of China and Indonesia are increasingly connected, and the "Belt and Road" initiative is highly compatible with Indonesia's "Global Maritime Fulcrum" strategy.
The demand for Sino-Indonesian bilingual talents in the construction of a community of shared future between China and Indonesia is urgent and long-term.
In 2019, the "Study in China" exhibition held in Jakarta attracted many Indonesian students and parents to visit.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
Chinese teaching in Indonesia has an extremely broad stage and bright prospects.
For faster and better development of Chinese language teaching in Indonesia, the training of teachers is the top priority.
The Ministry of Education of Indonesia has successively introduced measures to train and standardize local Chinese language teachers, and established institutional guarantees; the Ministry has also cooperated with the Indonesian Embassy in China and the Chinese Center for Chinese-Foreign Language Exchange and Cooperation to launch several training courses for local Chinese language teachers in Indonesia.
Secondly, Chinese teaching should be combined with market demand, vigorously develop vocational skills education in the "Chinese +" model, create barrier-free channels for "Chinese learning market" and "Chinese application market", cultivate counterpart talents, and realize Chinese students' learning, internship and employment. dragon.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Liao Guirong, associate professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Guangxi Normal University, China. She has been teaching for 27 years. Her main research direction is applied linguistics. She has published more than a dozen related papers and compiled two sets of textbooks.
Since February 2017, he has served as the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Malang National University in Indonesia. He has presided over the compilation of the book "You Come and I Visit Indonesia", and has written many articles about Indonesia.