I just read a UK report saying the number of people learning Chinese has grown rapidly over the past decade, and even public schools are paying more attention to it.

I saw that too. Chinese used to be rare in the UK. A teacher recalled that in 1985 there were only about twenty students nationwide learning Chinese. Now it’s completely different.

The data is clear: the number of Chinese exam candidates in UK secondary schools rose from over 3,000 in the 2012–2013 school year to more than 7,800 in 2023–2024.

One driving force is the ‘Chinese Excellence Programme.’ It started in 2016 and requires students to spend an average of eight hours a week studying, including classes, homework, and self-study. That’s quite intensive.

Eight hours is tough for secondary school students. But the results are obvious: by 2025, participation exceeded 16,000, compared to just a few hundred students in over a dozen schools at the beginning.

More importantly, it has narrowed the gap between private and public schools to some extent. In the past, Chinese learning was concentrated in better-resourced schools, but now public schools also have the chance to reach higher levels.

What I like most is their ‘immersive’ experience in China. I heard that in July 2025, nearly 1,200 students went to China for eleven days—studying in class, bargaining in markets, and learning slang from peers.

This kind of experience makes ‘China’ feel real. Students don’t just memorize vocabulary; they see how people speak and interact. In the end, the value of language is not only in job opportunities, but also in helping people understand each other.