The old man would surely be proud. This week some 300 representatives, from 35 different c

The old man would surely be proud. This week some 300 representatives, from 35 different countries, gathered in Beijings Great Hall of the People for the first-ever Confucius Institute conference. This was no philosophical pow-wow, but the worlds largest-ever conference on teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Confucius Institutes are Chinas answer to the Alliance Francaise, Germanys Goethe Institute and the British Council, and officials hope they will help meet a growing global demand for Chinese-language education.Confucius Institutes have got off to a roaring start. The first was established in Tashkent in Uzbekistan in June 2004, the 75th in Cracow in Poland exactly two years later. No other Chinese international franchise has done as well. Officially, they are overseen by Hanban, the agency charged by the Education Ministry with promoting the teaching of Chinese overseas. But Hanbans staff of only around 50 can barely cope with the volume of applications, on top of its other duties which include administering Hanyu Shuipin Kaoshi, the standard test of proficiency in Chinese.

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