After 13 years, Chinese officially became the official language of the United Nations World Tourism Organization 

　　UNWTO: A very natural step

　　The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the world's most influential intergovernmental international tourism organization.

The organization was established in 1975, currently has 159 official member states, and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

China joined the organization in 1983.

　　Chinese has become the official language of UNWTO. In addition to improving the status and proportion of Chinese in international organizations, it will also help my country play a more active role in global international tourism affairs.

　　According to the official notification of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), starting from January 25, 2021, Chinese has officially become the official language of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

To this end, UNWTO released a congratulatory video from Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. The Chinese character "福" is also used in the video.

　　After the official announcement of the news, UNWTO told Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News that UNWTO and China have maintained friendly relations for a long time and have worked together in a number of tasks. The fact that Chinese becomes the official language of UNWTO is also "on the move." A very natural step".

　　What is the history of Chinese becoming its official language?

What changes will it bring in actual work?

What broader and far-reaching impact will it have?

　　13 years ago

　　China proposes to list Chinese as the official language of the organization

　　UNWTO is the world's most influential intergovernmental international tourism organization.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the organization was established in 1975, and its purpose is to "promote and develop tourism so that it is conducive to economic development, international mutual understanding, peace and prosperity."

There are currently 159 full member states and more than 500 affiliated members, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, with Spain as its depositary country.

China joined the organization in 1983.

　　According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in November 2007, at the 17th session of the UNWTO General Assembly, China proposed to include Chinese as the official language of the organization.

The General Assembly adopted the Chinese proposal and passed the amendment to Article 38 of the "World Tourism Organization Constitution", that is, "The official languages ​​of the organization are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish".

　　According to the UNWTO Constitution, after the amendment is passed by the General Assembly, more than two-thirds of the member states must agree.

Previously, the amendment to Arabic was officially passed by UNWTO at the 15th General Assembly in Beijing in 2003, and it took many years to become its official language.

In order to promote the early entry into force of Chinese as the official language of UNWTO, China has done a lot of work in cooperation with UNWTO.

In January 2021, 106 countries have approved the amendment, which meets the statutory number, and the amendment has formally entered into force.

　　After 13 years, Chinese has finally officially become the official language of the organization.

In this regard, UNWTO Communications Director Marcelo Risi told reporters, “UNWTO and China have maintained an excellent relationship for a long time, and have cooperated in the Silk Road project and the establishment of sustainable tourism development observation points. The UNWTO leadership has also visited China several times in the past ten years. The journey was very pleasant. All these exchanges have further strengthened our cooperative relationship. Therefore, it is very natural for Chinese to become the official language of UNWTO. step."

　　Marcelo Risi also introduced that after Chinese officially becomes the official language, there will be corresponding changes in the work of the UNWTO Secretariat.

Unofficial languages ​​may not be used in meetings or related official documents, and may be used in informal interpersonal communication.

The official language will be used in the organization's work, meetings and related documents. Usually, the corresponding working language will be selected from the six official languages ​​according to the specific participants of the meeting and the scope of the content.

　　Chinese fever

　　More than 70 countries around the world have included Chinese in their national education systems

　　In addition to the adjustments and changes in UNWTO's official work, will Chinese in the global tourism industry usher in corresponding changes?

UNWTO told reporters that although the organization does not participate in the decision to use language in tourist attractions around the world, these tourist attractions have begun to use Chinese more and more on their own, making tourist signs in Chinese, or using them in related tourism promotion. Chinese.

Because China is the world's largest source market for tourists, the tourism industries of various countries have taken corresponding measures to make Chinese tourists feel welcome and provide language convenience for Chinese tourists.

　　At the same time, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also pointed out that Chinese as the official language of UNWTO, in addition to "improving the status and proportion of use of Chinese in international organizations", will also "help my country play a more active role in global international tourism affairs, and better To share China’s tourism development experience and opportunities, and contribute to the realization of the goal of improving the country’s cultural soft power.

　　While Chinese and Chinese tourists are going out together to promote the upsurge of using Chinese, a new upsurge of learning Chinese has also been set off around the world.

According to "China Daily" reports, in early March, the 2021 Global Chinese Proficiency Test Calendar was released.

Different from the past, this year's Chinese Proficiency Test has officially opened a home online test mode for overseas.

This reform was made to meet the booming demand of Chinese language learners under the influence of the epidemic.

By the end of 2020, more than 220,000 candidates from more than 100 countries have taken various Chinese proficiency tests in more than 600 test centers.

Behind the hot Chinese proficiency test is the growing interest in Chinese among people from all over the world.

　　According to Guangming.com, more than 70 countries around the world have included Chinese in their national education systems, and more than 4,000 foreign universities have opened Chinese courses.

According to rough statistics, there are currently about 25 million people outside of China who are learning Chinese, and the cumulative number of people learning and using Chinese is nearly 200 million.

　　Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Reporter Lin Rong