|
Even the
couple themselves, both university
graduates, are taking part-time
postgraduate courses. The Zhao
family is a typical example of how
much the people in China value
education, which has become a huge
market of opportunity for foreign
educational establishments and
investors. And the amount of
financial investment the Chinese are
prepared to make shows how eager
they are to obtain a good education.
A recent
survey by the State Statistics
Bureau shoed that the Chinese people
put aside 10 per cent of their total
savings for the purpose of
education. This translates into
nearly 700 billion Yuan (S$156
billion), since residents’ total
savings now amount to more than
seven trillion Yuan.
-
Indeed, the market
potential of the country’s
education sector is
enormous. “The country has
300 million people who are
receiving various forms of
education, from compulsory
to tertiary and adult
education, providing a huge
education market,” said
education counsellor Wang
Yongli of the Chinese
embassy in Singapore at a
recent seminar…
Jiang’s use
of English ‘shows Chinese hunger
to learn’
Shanghai:
Chinese
President Jiang Zemin’s resolve
to use English to chair the
meetings at this week’s
Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (Apec) shows the
hunger of the Chinese to learn
the language.
-
And the learning
fever is bound to
spread to the entire
Chinese society
because top Chinese
-
leaders have shown
the way, Prime
Minister Goh Chok
Tong said yesterday.
Speaking to the
Singapore media at
the end of the Apec
meetings, he said he
was impressed that
Mr.Jiang, even at 75
years old, was
‘prepared to learn’
to handle meetings
in English – with
commendable diction
with summit
leaders...
(Straits Times, Monday,
October 22, 2001)
BEIJING’S PRE-OLYMPIC
LANGUAGE DRIVE – CHINA
Love your
country? Speak up in English
-
With more
than half a million
visitors expected for
the 2008 Olympics,
officials
-
want their city to look and
sound its best
Beijing:
Beijing
is appealing to residents to
rally behind a drive to learn
English before the world
converges on the Chinese capital
for the 2008 Olympic games.
About two million
people here can speak English and
other foreign languages and the
authorities are aiming to double
that number by running a series of
courses. Beijing’s message to its 13
million residents is: Speak up – in
English or any other major foreign
language – to show off the city’s
international standing when the
visitors and athletes show up for
the games…
(Straits Times, Saturday,
November 2, 2002 ) |
