The document was signed by visiting Chinese Vice Minister of Education Zhou Ji and US Secretary of Education Roderick Paige.

The Sino-US E-language project is one of the most substantial joint projects of the two governmental education authorities since the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between China and the United States, a Chinese embassy official said.

The E-language project is network-based platform, jointly supported by experts in both countries, to apply the Internet, multimedia, module and other information technologies to the Chinese and English language education.

In recent years, there is an increasing demand for Chinese language education among students in US. According to the statistics, over 700 US universities have Chinese language programs, which account for 20 percent of the total, and over 100 Chinese language centers are established on the campuses. There are over 200 primary and high schools with Chinese language programs and over 800 weekend Chinese language schools. The number of primary and high school students who enroll in Chinese language classes in various ways has reached 100,000.

The Sino-US E-language project was launched to meet the need for the new trends. The project will help more and more American primary and high schools to set up Chinese program. At the same time, more and more children in US will have new ways to experience the Chinese history and culture. This project will become a bridge for students in both countries to learn about the world and learn from each other.

(People’s Daily October 22, 2002)