Learning Chinese in Russian Federation Schools: Status and Trends

Van To PhD in History Postgraduate student of Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6 1194595483@qq.com Other publications by this author

Introduction

The relevance of the research topic is due, firstly, to the growing popularity of the Chinese language in the Russian Federation among schoolchildren and students of higher educational institutions (universities); secondly, to the strengthening of bilateral relations between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation in the context of "power transit" and the restructuring of the international conjuncture.

The object of the study is the study of the Chinese language in the Russian Federation.

The subject of the study is the study of the Chinese language in schools of the Russian Federation, its state and trends.

The theoretical and methodological basis of this study is based on the paradigm of neoliberalism, which considers international relations as a non-anarchic structure with the primacy of international law, institutions and international trade. These aspects of the neoliberalism paradigm contribute to the prevention of armed conflicts.

The history of learning Chinese in Russia

The history of learning Chinese in Russia originates in the Russian Empire, after the accession of Peter Alekseevich Romanov to Russia.  The low popularity of the Chinese language in the Russian Empire in the 18th century was characterized by a non-systematic approach to its study due to the popularity of the latter among the nobility and merchants ^[1].

The turning point in the study of Chinese in the Russian Empire was the creation of the Chinese Language Department of the Oriental Faculty of Kazan University in 1837. After the closure of the faculty at Kazan University in 1855, St. Petersburg University became the center of Sinology in the Russian Empire. However, it is worth noting that the number of students of the previously designated Faculty of Oriental Languages in the period 1863-1874 did not exceed 48 people, which indicates the narrow focus and low popularity of the Chinese language among students ^[2].

At the turn of the century: in 1899, the Oriental Institute was opened in Vladivostok, where the training of Sinologists began. The specifics of the institute were based on geographical proximity with China.

The Chinese language in the Russian Empire gained practical rather than scientific interest only by the end of the 19th century, which was due to a number of factors, which include cooperation between the two states in the construction of the Sino-Eastern Railway (CER) and the expansion of bilateral trade, however, the low popularity of studying the latter remained due to the small number of the Chinese population on the territory of the Russian Empire (according to the data of the first census of the Russian Empire in 1897, about 57 thousand native Chinese speakers lived on the territory of the Russian Empire, among whom only 39 people lived on the territory of the European part of Russia) ^[3].

After the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the Bolsheviks came to power, in addition to St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, Moscow began to train specialists. In the new capital of the socialist state, the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), established in 1944 on the basis of the International Faculty of Moscow State University, become centers for the study of China and the Chinese language. Moreover, in 1956, the Institute of Oriental Languages was established on the basis of Moscow State University, later renamed the Institute of Asian and African Countries (ISAA) ^[4]. 

Interest in the Chinese language in the USSR has grown significantly compared to the period of the Russian Empire, the reason for such attention to the language may be the following factors:

1.                 The participation of Chinese volunteers in the Russian Civil War. During the Russian Civil war, Chinese volunteers took an active part on both sides of the conflict, defending the interests of opposing ideologies with weapons in their hands. However, it is important to understand that mostly the Chinese, if they took part in the civil war, they did it on the side of the Red Army because of the aggressive policy of the "whites" towards representatives of other nationalities and the prospect of the development of communist ideas and the communist revolution in China. According to various estimates, from 30 to 70 thousand people took part on the side of the "reds" ^[5].

2. The formation of the PRC and the establishment of friendly relations with the USSR. After the end of the bloody civil war in China, the Communist forces led by Mao Zedong won. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established, with which the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations the very next day: October 2, 1949.

The Soviet Union provided comprehensive economic, political and technological assistance.  Chinese specialists were sent to educational institutions in the USSR in order to obtain the necessary competencies to build a strong economy, industry and healthcare system. According to I.S. Vinogradov: "... about 11 thousand Chinese specialists and 1,000 scientists were trained and trained in the USSR. The Soviet Union transferred scientific and design documentation to China to create the scientific and technical base of the young republic" ^[6].

At the same time, it is important for everyone to understand that the number of Chinese in the territory of the USSR itself has been decreasing over the years: according to the All–Union Population Census of 1939, 1959, 1989, the number of Chinese in the USSR in 1939 was 32023 people ^[7], in 1959 - 25781 people ^[8], in 1989 – 11355 people ^[9]. Such a decrease in the number of Chinese in the USSR is due to the deterioration of bilateral relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China in the early 1960s, the direct military conflict on Damansky Island in 1969, the growth of the PRC economy after the beginning of the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's policy of reform and openness, which consisted in combining elements of a market and planned economy in order to attract investment and solve a significant the number of internal problems in the late 1970s ^[10].

After the deterioration of bilateral relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China, the orientation of the Chinese language in the Soviet Union changed from practical to scientific, the number of Chinese language learners decreased, and the Chinese language also disappeared from the school curriculum ^[11].

As for the Russian Federation, the trend of declining interest in the Chinese language persisted until the beginning of the 21st century. Starting in 2002, the number of Chinese language learners began to gradually increase, reaching 14.7 thousand people in 139 universities in 2007-2009 (in 2002, this figure was 3 thousand people in 50 universities). Since 2012, the growth in the popularity of the Chinese language has reached its peak: in 2015, more than 22 thousand people studied at Confucius institutes and classes.

The growing popularity of the Chinese language in the Russian Federation is directly related to some factors:

1.                 The improvement of bilateral relations in the context of "power transit" and the restructuring of international relations. Since the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, the People's Republic of China has entered into a "race" for leadership in the international arena with the United States of America, this process has been called "power transit. Power transition)». At the moment, the confrontation between China and the United States is in its highest phase: the People's Republic of China was able to overtake the United States in some areas of state development, but the United States retains leadership in most vital industries, among which "soft power", the media, and international institutions can be distinguished ^[12].

The Russian Federation, as a strategic partner of the People's Republic of China, in a similar manner advocates the construction of a just world order, which has been repeatedly reflected in regulatory and conceptual documents of the Russian Federation. As noted in the concept of foreign policy of the Russian Federation dated March 31, 2023: "Russia strives to form such a system of international relations that would ensure reliable security, preservation of cultural and civilizational identity, equal development opportunities for all states regardless of their geographical location, size of territory, demographic, resource and military potentials, political, The achievement of the strategic goals of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation is carried out by fulfilling the following main tasks: the formation of a just and sustainable world order ..." ^[13].

Thus, the development of Chinese language learning in the Russian Federation is associated with close cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China in the international arena, which consists in building a fair and equal world order.

2.                 China's economic growth and increased interest in it. Since the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's market reforms, China's economic indicators have increased many times. Since 1978, China's GDP has grown from 219 million US dollars to 18 trillion US dollars in 2022 ^[14].

Along with the growth of GDP, the attractiveness of the PRC for students and future specialists has also grown. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD (English: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development – OECD), in 2022, more than 90 thousand people crossed the border of China for employment and 93 thousand for education. It is important to note that the number of newly arrived students in 2022 decreased compared to 2019/2020, when more than 172 thousand students arrived in China.

Russia ranks 4th in the list of countries from which citizens come to China, reaching 7% of the total number of incoming migration to China ^[15].

Moreover, according to the English QS World University Rankings, the top 100 best universities in the world include 5 Chinese universities: Peking University (English Peking University) – 17th place, Tsinghua University – 25th place (English Tsinghua University), Zhejiang University (English Zhejiang University) – 44th place, Fudan University (English Fudan University) – 50th place, Shanghai University of Transport (English Shanghai Jiao Tong University) – 51st place ^[16].

Thus, the attractiveness of the Chinese language is due to the prospects of obtaining higher education in the universities of the People's Republic of China, which are included in the list of the best universities in the world, and employment in the People's Republic of China.

3. The "soft power" of the People's Republic of China. One of the most important tools of the PRC's "soft power" is the dissemination of the Chinese language abroad through the activities of Confucius Institutes. The first Confucius Institute was opened in 2004 in Seoul, and at the moment the network of Institutes includes about 535 educational organizations.

There are 19 Confucius Institutes and 4 Confucius schools in the Russian Federation in the largest cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Irkutsk, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Ryazan, Tomsk, Ulan-Ude, Yaroslavl. Thanks to the activities of the previously designated organizations, "in the Russian Federation, about 17.6 thousand people are native Chinese speakers, at the same time, more than 59 thousand people speak the previously designated language fluently. It is also important to note that thanks to the popularization of the Chinese language in the Russian Federation, more than 22 thousand full-time students in the Russian Federation study Chinese at key universities in the country, among which one of the key places is occupied by the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia."

Summing up all the above, we can conclude that the history of learning Chinese in Russia dates back to the reign of Peter Alekseevich Romanov (Peter I). The turning point in the study of Chinese in the Russian Empire was the creation of the Chinese Language Department of the Oriental Faculty of Kazan University in 1837. The Chinese language in the Russian Empire gained practical interest only by the end of the 19th century. During the years of the Soviet Union, Chinese was particularly popular due to the participation of Chinese volunteers in the Russian Civil war and the formation of the People's Republic of China, followed by the establishment of bilateral friendly relations, however, after the cooling of relations between the two states, the orientation of the Chinese language in the Soviet Union changed from practical to scientific, the number of Chinese language learners decreased, Chinese from the school curriculum the language is also missing. This trend continued until the beginning of the 21st century, when the number of Chinese language learners began to gradually increase, due to the improvement of bilateral relations between the PRC and the Russian Federation in the context of the restructuring of the world, the economic and scientific rise of the PRC and the "soft power" of the PRC.

Learning Chinese in Russian schools: status and trends

School education in the Russian Federation is inextricably linked with education in higher education institutions, therefore, the trend in the growing popularity of the Chinese language in Russian schools also persists.

According to the Kommersant news agency, in 2019, Chinese was added to the unified state exam (USE), at that time it was studied by about 17 thousand students in high school.  In 2021, the number of Chinese language learners increased to 91 thousand people.

Moreover, the number of exam takers in Chinese is also steadily growing, although it lags behind the "traditional" foreign languages:

1. 2019 – 289 applicants;

2. 2020 – 286 applicants;

3. 2021 – 427 applicants;

4. 2022 – 480 applicants ^[17].

The indicators of the popularity of the Chinese language on the Unified State Exam are significantly inferior to those of the same English language, which in 2022 was passed by about 87 thousand people ^[18]. This problem is associated with the incomparable complexity of the Chinese language, which is clearly visible in the number of children. Those who received the maximum score on the Unified State Exam: in 2020, 2 people received 100 points on the Unified State Exam in Chinese ^[19], while 30 people received 30 points in English ^[20].

The key problems of learning Chinese in schools of the Russian Federation are:

1. The staff shortage among Chinese language teachers in schools, which has intensified against the background of the rapid growth of the need for language learning. The COVID-19 pandemic also added "oil to the fire" of personnel starvation ^[21];

2. The shortage of textbooks, expressed in the absence of a sufficient number of both traditional modern textbooks and media materials;

3.                 The lack of native speakers who are able to "set" the pace and tone of speech for students;

4. Concentration of Chinese language learning at higher educational institutions, where students are required to complete the material in 4-5 years ^[22].

Conclusion

Summing up all the above, we can conclude that the long history of learning Chinese in Russia has gone from a noble privilege to a systematically developing process of increasing interest in the Chinese language among both university students and schoolchildren.

  The study of Chinese in schools of the Russian Federation is carried out on an equal basis with other foreign languages, as evidenced by the addition of Chinese to the unified state exam in 2019. However, it is worth noting that against the background of the growing popularity of the language itself (91 thousand students in 2021), the problem of the complexity of its study remains, which is clearly seen by the number of people passing this language on the Unified State Exam (427 passing in 2021).

The key problems of learning Chinese in schools in the Russian Federation are the lack of teaching staff against the background of increased interest, the shortage of textbooks, the lack of native speakers, and concentration on learning Chinese in universities.