A Chinese-learning craze is emerging in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK/URUMQI -- Bursts of laughter erupted in a small classroom in Kyrgyzstan's eastern Karakol city as Aidai Kubanychbekova and several children practiced oral Chinese, such as "I'll do my Chinese homework."

Kubanychbekova's dream of teaching Chinese came true last year when she created the "Hello, Chinese language!" learning center, with the support of her family. "I've always wanted to open such a center," she said.

As the Central Asian country deepens its exchanges and cooperation with China, learning Chinese comes at an opportune time.

The increasing exchanges between China and Kyrgyzstan have prompted a trend among Kyrgyz youths to learn Chinese. About 17,000 people have trained at the Osh State University's Confucius Institute since its inception in 2013, with nearly 600 of them receiving scholarships for further studies in China.

But with few Kyrgyz educational institutions offering Chinese language courses, Kubanychbekova's learning center stands out. The center currently enrolls about 40 students, many around the age of 10. The 26-year-old instructor has been fascinated with the Chinese language since childhood: "Every Chinese character is a picture imbued with special meaning." In 10th grade, she began studying Chinese language and culture.

"At first, the language was difficult for me. But one day I spoke to Chinese friends, and they immediately understood my Chinese -- this lifted my confidence," she said.

She studied translation at university, with Chinese as a required course, while also taking online Chinese language courses offered by a Chinese university. In 2023, she joined a university scholarship program for training Chinese language teachers in northeast China.

"That was my first trip to China. Very impressive. The streets there were cleaner, transport was more convenient, and daily life was more modernized than I thought," she said, adding that she wants to help the children in her hometown learn Chinese and experience the real China and Chinese culture.

Kubanychbekova plans to collaborate with Chinese universities to co-organize summer camps in China or arrange visits by Chinese students to Kyrgyzstan.

A junior at Kyrgyzstan's Osh State University, Erbol Keldibaev often sings to the guitar after class at the university's Confucius Institute. "Singing Chinese popular songs brings me great pleasure."

Watching Chinese kung fu films aroused his love for Chinese culture in his childhood. The undergraduate majors in translation and interpretation studies. "I enjoy learning Chinese: writing characters, rewriting phrases, watching films in Chinese."

As a sophomore, Keldibaev spent six months at Hainan Normal University in southern China, where he made Chinese friends, saw the sea for the first time in his life, and won a Chinese song singing competition.

This year, Keldibaev hopes to participate in the "Chinese Bridge" contest of Chinese language proficiency, held throughout the year in various countries.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyz individuals with bilingual capabilities are becoming an important force in deepening trade and economic ties between the two countries.

A fluent Chinese speaker, Bermet Kurmanbaeva was stationed at the Kyrgyz booth during a commodity fair last month in the city of Kashgar in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

An expert with the Kyrgyz Export Development and Promotion Center, a government agency, her smooth presentation in Chinese of Kyrgyz-produced honey drew visitors.

According to Kurmanbaeva, many people in Kyrgyzstan's business community are learning Chinese to facilitate access to the Chinese market. "The knowledge of Chinese is not just an additional language skill, but also serves to gain trust and seize opportunities," she said.

At the fair, many representatives of Chinese companies were impressed with Kurmanbaeva's professional and detailed presentations in Chinese, leading to the signing of cooperation agreements.

Her success at the fair heightened her awareness of how her work serves as a bridge between the two countries.

"May the friendship between Kyrgyzstan and China and between the two peoples be as sweet as honey," Kurmanbaeva said.