Feature: Vietnamese students mastering Chinese helps bolster bilateral ties, opens more employment avenues

Learning Chinese is fun, thought- provoking and popular, so mastering the language will make practical contributions to Vietnam-China relations, said Chang Wei Jiun, the first prize winner of the 15th Chinese Bridge, the annual Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students in southern Vietnam on Friday.

Themed "Dreams Enlighten the Future," the competition attracted 16 students who are studying Chinese as their language major at universities in Ho Chi Minh City. They competed in knowledge question and answer sessions, Chinese speech evaluations and a talent show.

"When taking university entrance exams, I considered choosing either English or Chinese. Eventually I chose Chinese because it is actually a wonderful and hugely popular global language," Chang, who is a second-year student at the Chinese Department of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, told Xinhua after winning the top prize.

Chang said she has no specific know-how for mastering Chinese, but said she closely studies Chinese culture such as watching Chinese programs on television. "This competition creates a new driving force for me to sharpen my Chinese skills. Mastering the language helps make practical contributions to the relationship between Vietnam and China," she reiterated.

Chang's statement was echoed by Dr. Ho Minh Quang, dean of the Orientalism Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Ho Chi Minh City National University. Quang told Xinhua that learning Chinese contributes to building closer ties between Vietnam and China, especially at a time when bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation is developing robustly.

"All students we train in Chinese here have jobs. This is not a movement of studying Chinese, but a response to increasing market demand. Enterprises directly come to our university to recruit all learners of Chinese," Quang said. However, to have better jobs, besides proficiency in Chinese, students should also have a deep understanding of Chinese and Vietnamese cultures, he added.

At the 15th Chinese Bridge, Nguyen Khac Canh, vice president of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said: "Around 20 percent of the world's population currently use Chinese. Many researchers assume that Chinese will one day become the world's future standard language."

Vietnam and China are fostering cooperation in economy, trade, education, culture, tourism and other fields, creating more and more career opportunities for learners of Chinese. "Many Chinese enterprises are investing and doing business in Vietnam and if you know Chinese, you will surely have many chances to work in this environment and earn a good income and quicker promotion opportunities in the future," stated the vice president.

At the competition, Zhou Tong, Chinese deputy consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, said the Chinese Consulate General in the city always supports Chinese training in universities and colleges in Vietnamese localities, and has been creating more opportunities for Vietnamese youths to study in China to make practical contributions to cooperation between Chinese and Vietnamese universities and colleges.

"I believe that all students here through studying Chinese will find a bright future and make active contributions to the China-Vietnam friendship and comprehensive cooperation," Zhou said.

The competition was co-organized by the Chinese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Endit