Chinese-language education conference links wider access, research and workplace learning

An international Chinese-language teaching conference has called for research and teaching resources to reach more learners, while connecting language study with professional skills and digital learning. Zhong Yinghua, president of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, set out that direction at the society's annual academic conference, held alongside the 2026 World Chinese Language Conference.

This year's gathering uses the theme "Chinese: More Than a Language". Zhong said the field was moving beyond language teaching alone toward a more open and collaborative educational system. The conference account put the estimated number of people overseas learning or using Chinese at 210 million. That combines learning and use; it is not a count of people newly enrolling this year.

Academic work and practical skills

Chinese-language and professional-skills centres have been established at Chinese-invested companies and industrial parks in thirty-one countries, with forty-five sites in operation. Since 2021, the teaching society has worked with thirty-six Chinese and overseas journals to publish more than 1,900 papers. After introducing its first core-journal list in 2025, it has now named twenty-five leading academic conferences selected from 201 candidates.

Angola's minister of higher education, science, technology and innovation, Albano Vicente Lopes Ferreira, described Chinese study as an opportunity for knowledge, education and employment. More than four hundred Chinese companies operate in Angola in sectors including infrastructure, energy, telecommunications and industry. The minister's argument was that language skills can support direct communication and technical exchanges, not that a language qualification guarantees a job.

The discussion identified engineering, AI, digital transformation, modern agriculture, renewable energy and biotechnology as areas where exchanges could develop. It also considered smart teaching, multimodal and immersive learning, and digital-resource production. Zhong urged that academic research be converted into practical teaching resources and made more accessible to learners and frontline teachers. The agenda therefore combines academic standards with the practical question of who can use the results.