Qatar pushes ahead with studies on Mandarin

Qatar is showing sharply higher interest in studies of the Chinese language, literature and culture, offering a chance to boost ties between the two sides in the education sector at a time when China is expanding its economic engagement with the Middle East.

With several schools in the Gulf nation launching Mandarin Chinese language programs and Beijing supporting efforts to improve cross-cultural communication and understanding, academic exchanges are set to a get a boost, observers said.

Zhao Jian, Chinese coordinator at the Translation and Interpreting Institute, or TII, Language Center at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said a unique feature of Qatar-China relations is that the Chinese embassy in Qatar's capital city of Doha "has been very supportive and engaged" in education cooperation like textbook donations.

Zhao was referring to the 3,000 books the Chinese embassy donated to the TII in January, giving the institute's teaching resources a major boost. It marked the third such donation since 2017.

The books are a vital part of the immersive cultural learning experience the TII is able to offer students unable to move abroad to study the Chinese language.

Abdullah Baabood, Chair of the State of Qatar for Islamic Area Studies and visiting professor at the School of International Liberal Studies in Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, said Gulf nations are "developing a strategic relationship with China".

"Qatar is very interested, obviously, in enhancing its relationship with China at all levels," Baabood said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between China and Qatar reached $11 billion in 2018, up from $10 billion the previous year. In July 2020, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar's exports, according to Qatar's Planning and Statistics Authority.

Zhao said that since the launch of the Mandarin Chinese language program for adults and children in 2014 and 2017, respectively, the TII's program has attracted more than 800 students.

Courses shifting online

Like many courses in the world affected by COVID-19, the TII saw the shift of in-person classes to online. The immersive classes, which have been conducted virtually since last March, cover listening and speaking the Chinese language and Chinese teacher training.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University said in an update that by developing Chinese language skills, be it for seizing new job opportunities or for personal development, students have an opportunity "to acquire accurate knowledge of a region that is important in world affairs".

Education ties between Qatar and China have seen steady engagement in recent years, including the establishment of the Qatar Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Peking University in 2014 when Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, visited China.

The Chair is linked with the School of Foreign Languages at Peking University and the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University with an aim to promote research activities on language, literature, culture, religion, and international relations related to the Middle East.

WISE, an international, multisectoral platform founded in 2009 for creative action, debate and collaboration, also announced a major partnership with China Renmin University Press for the translation and publication of WISE books into Chinese.

jan@chinadailyapac.com