Is China Saying Goodbye to ‘Hello’?

Interest in learning Chinese may be growing in the United States, but English-language studies in China could very well be on the wane. On Oct. 21, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, the organization that decides what students in the city study, proposed a series of reforms to the gaokao, China’s all-important national higher education entrance ...

By , an assistant editor at Foreign Policy in 2014.
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Tim Graham/Getty Images

Interest in learning Chinese may be growing in the United States, but English-language studies in China could very well be on the wane.

Interest in learning Chinese may be growing in the United States, but English-language studies in China could very well be on the wane.

On Oct. 21, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, the organization that decides what students in the city study, proposed a series of reforms to the gaokao, China’s all-important national higher education entrance examination, which would reduce the weight the test places on English-language ability. The state-run Xinhua news agency confirmed that other potential changes included postponing English-language education until the third grade (Beijing students currently begin studying English as soon as they enter primary school). Initially, these reforms would target the Beijing version of the test. But what happens in Beijing is often a bellwether for the rest of China.

Beijing’s gaokao currently allocates 150 out of 750 points to English-language ability, putting it on par with Chinese and mathematics, regardless of whether a student plans on using English in the future. Perhaps that’s why a survey conducted by Sina, one of China’s largest online news portals, found that 72 percent of approximately 35,000 respondents supported the contemplated changes to the gaokao. Many simply found English useless in day-to-day life. "It should have been changed long ago," wrote @MsVeggie, a user of Weibo, China’s Twitter. "We’ve studied English for so many years, but how often do we really use it?"

Others thought that deemphasizing English education was a bad idea. "My English isn’t great, but I still don’t think they should make these changes," wrote one Weibo user. "It’s good they’re placing an emphasis on Chinese language and literature, but China’s development is dependent on working with other countries and studying advanced concepts from the West. If you are going for your master’s or Ph.D., you have to be able to read English texts, and you need English for international communication."

As China continues to promote Chinese studies abroad by offering scholarships and establishing Confucius Institutes at foreign universities, some of China’s provinces have moved to deemphasize English education; northeastern Shandong province, for example, will eliminate English listening comprehension from its version of the gaokao starting in 2014. Reacting to the news, one Weibo user mused, "Is this a sign of the rise of the East and the decline of the British and American empires?"

Given that English education is still compulsory for Chinese public school students, it’s premature to see the fall of Western civilization in a few proposed tweaks to China’s education system. But Americans and Brits may at least want to start perfecting their ni hao‘s.

Liz Carter was an assistant editor at Foreign Policy in 2014. Twitter: @withoutdoing

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.