According to a report by ChinaNews, China has currently signed agreements with 26 countries and regions on official mutual recognition of education degrees. And the government has now developed relationship on educational cooperation and communication with 178 countries and regions, as well as many international organizations such as UNESCO. In addition, by 2005 China had set up more than 1,000 cooperatively-run schools and educational projects.

From ChinaNews, it is reported that a new test for Chinese language learners, for people whose native language is not Mandarin, will begin in November, 2006. According to the report,

Registration for the “C. Test”, aimed at non-Chinese and ethnic minority groups in China, will take place between October 24 and 31. The test, devised by the Beijing Language and Culture University, is different to the current Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) test which focuses more on listening comprehension rather than grammar and reading. The examinee will receive a certificate with a score and level, together with a report on his or her Chinese language skills. Trial runs of the C.Test were launched in China and Japan in July and attracted 1,150 participants from 17 countries and regions. The first official C. Test exam is on Nov. 19. There will be four tests a year, but the exact dates are undecided.

This news report says China needs one million interpreters, while there are only 200 professional interpreter graduates from interpreters training class every year.

Really interesting to know that there is also a city of Pekin(g) in Illinois, USA:

China used to be far away, the country at the bottom of the world. Certainly that must be how it seemed just 20 years ago in a place like Pekin, Ill., a city of 34,000 residents on the Illinois River that took its name from the Chinese capital in the 1820′s. According to local legend, Pekin is directly opposite Beijing on the globe. The high-school teams there were still called the Chinks until 1981, when they were renamed the Dragons. A smart and forward-looking decision, it turns out: as is happening throughout the United States, the Pekinese have in their own local ways grown inextricably linked to the Chinese of today. They are now connected not by an imaginary hole through the earth but by the world’s shipping lanes, financial markets, telecommunications networks and, above all, the globalization of appetites.

Source: The Chinese Century, by Ted C. Fishman, the New York Times, July 4, 2004.

On October 2, 2006 China’s main tourism authority and the central government’s Spiritual Civilization Committee jointly issued guidelines for Chinese tourists. The guidelines are lists of clear and simple behavioral etiquettes for people intending to travel domestically and internationally, including those “dos and don’ts” tips such as speaking quietly, respecting queues and putting litter in bins, and no spitting. (More on this from this news report Shanghai Daily : Tourists told to polish up act, not only their shoes).

These guidelines are probably the first of its kind in China, and they are in fact parts of the recent official advocacy for more dynamic developments of Chinese culture around the world.

According to a Xinhua report, “Chinese tourists made 31 million trips abroad in 2005, with that number expected to rise to 100 million by 2020″.