The large-scale social movement of“promoting Chinese language globally”has evolved in tandem with China’s reform and opening-up policy’s principle of“learning from the world.”Indeed, the genuine international dissemination of Chinese language would not have been possible without authentic reform and opening-up. Language dissemination inherently correlates with human interaction, just as language development intrinsically connects with social progress. Since the 1980s, the field of Chinese language
education has witnessed remarkable growth, accompanied by a significant evolution in terminology: from “Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language”to“International Chinese Language Education,”and subsequently to today’s“International Chinese Education.”This progression from foreign to international, and from teaching to education signifies more than mere semantic change—it represents a fundamental conceptual transformation. Nevertheless, considerable ambiguity persists within academic circles regarding the true scope and implications of International Chinese Education. To address this, we must establish two fundamental principles. First, International Chinese Education should be recognized as a form of education that fosters international understanding, conducted on a global scale, with Chinese as its medium and global governance as its guiding principle. Second, we need to develop and embrace the concept of“global development of Chinese language”by moving beyond the traditional focus on teaching and education alone. This approach advocates advancing Chinese language development through global language use, language services, and language knowledge production. This development is pursued through Chinese-foreign collaboration within a framework of global development. The path forward entails a reciprocal relationship where the global development of Chinese
language and continued reform and opening-up mutually reinforce each other, ultimately contributing to both global development and Chinese language advancement.
