Briefings - 1323. page

Xu Lin, director of China’s National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, talked about the international spread of the Chinese language in an interview with Xinhua’s publication Outlook Weekly magazine. Xu said that the international spread of the Chinese language was a national strategy. To accomplish such a great venture, it must be done through the combined efforts of various departments of the government as well as the whole society. Xu emphasizes that the most pressing issue is to improve the ability for the Chinese language to spread [beyond the country]. China’s National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language was established in 1987. It is made up of officials from 11 departments of the State Council. Its mission is to coordinate various ministries, treat the international spread of Chinese as a national issue, and spread it in a quiet manner. The headquarters of the Confucius Institutes established later is another face of the same office.

Source: Sohu, May 5, 2008
http://news.sohu.com/20080505/n256668069.shtml

On April 29, the Judicial Department of Aba Prefecture [Aba is the second largest Tibetan ethnic group in Sichuan Province] held a lawyers’ professional training conference. All 55 practicing lawyers in the region attended the training. During the conference, the lawyers were required to be in solidarity with the Party’s Unified Plan both in thought and action, to be sober-minded about the [political] climate, and to counter-attack the Dalai clique’s separation with concrete actions.

Source: Boxun, May 4, 2008
http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2008/05/200805040315.shtml

On April 27 & 28, Monk Shi Qingming from Huang Long Temple of Yunnan Province sat in a two-day qualification test seeking to be enrolled into the Chinese Communist Party School of Yunnan Province. He learned about the party school enrollment notice in February and applied for the test in April. Monk Shi said that he intends to study the systematic teachings about the Party in order to accept the party leadership, follow the Party’s policies on religious practice and be part of the development to build a “Harmonious Society”.

Source: Yunnan Daily, April 28, 2008 http://search.yndaily.com/cgi-bin/detail.exe?133200+yndaily/news_99+59673+news_99+
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