AT A NEWS conference of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Sunday, Chen Baosheng, the education minister, said that Chinese education's international influence has continuously increased over the past five years, and China has become the destination for the third-largest number of foreign students. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

In fact, China became the destination for the third-largest number of overseas students three years ago. Statistics from the Ministry of Education show more than 377,000 overseas students studied in China in 2014, and the number hit about 443,000 last year.

However, the marked rise in the number of overseas students should be attributed more to the increasing attraction of China with the enhancement of its national power, than to the improvement in China's education.