Increased national power
In November 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump's six-year-old granddaughter Arabella Kushner made headlines after a video clip showing her reciting ancient Chinese poems and singing Chinese songs went viral during Trump's China visit.
Kushner is just one of many American children learning Chinese. An increasing number of K-12 schools in North America and Europe offer Chinese language classes.
Kensington Wade is the first prep school in the United Kingdom to offer a dual-language English-Chinese education from ages 3-11, according to its website. The school opened in London in September 2017.
According to the headmistress Joanna Wallace, parents "want to equip their children with the Chinese language, as China is playing an increasingly important global role."
Confucius Institutes around the world also have played an indispensable role in promoting Chinese language learning. Since 2004, a total of 516 Confucius Institutes and 1,076 related courses have been established in 142 countries and regions, receiving more than 9 million students, said Ma Jianfei, deputy chief executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters.
Chinese literature has gained increasing acknowledgement from global awards committees. Writer Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature. Liu Cixin, author of "The Three-Body Problem," was the first Chinese author to receive the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015. Cao Wenxuan was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2016.
Nobel laureate and well-known French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio said with China's growing national power, Chinese literature is increasingly important in terms of international status.
China is ready to build stronger cultural confidence, according to a report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017.
"We must develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, inspire the cultural creativity of our whole nation, and develop a great socialist culture in China," it reads.
Despite the growing international presence of Chinese culture, we cannot overlook the fact that the country still has a long way to go, said Zhang Yiwu, an professor of Chinese literature at Peking University.
"The most urgent issue is to match our cultural products with others' demands, while preserving our own identity," Zhang said.
