China launches Web site to teach Chinese
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-07-10 09:11 China launched a Web site, www.linese.com, on
Saturday offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and
use of the language abroad.
The site includes audio-visual presentations,
interactive exercises and advice for teachers of Mandarin Chinese, with
photographs and descriptions of cultural icons such as the Great Wall, kung fu
actor Jackie Chan and basketball star Yao Ming.
A woman looks at a poster promoting the use of
Mandarin and Chinese characters in Beijing, January 19, 2006. China
launched a Web site, www.linese.com, on Saturday offering free Chinese
lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.
[Reuters] |
Many of the exercises touch on China's mythical and imperial past, including
practice sentences such as "how can you be a hero if you are unarmed" and "I
find that Tibetans like worshipping heroes."
China is keen to expand its cultural influence along with its growing
economic power, and is also setting up a network of "Confucius Institutes"
around the world to promote its culture.
The Web site is only in Chinese and English, but versions in Japanese and
Korean are being developed, the Xinhua news agency said.
More than 30 million people are now learning Chinese as a foreign language
and more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries offer Chinese courses, the
Ministry of Education says.
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