In November 1972, the "International Association for the Promotion of the Chinese Language" ("Shijie Huawen jiaoyu sejing hui") was established in Taipei (Taiwan), which in July 1997 acquired its current name " International Association of the Chinese Language "("Shijie huayuwen jiaoyu sehui", in English: World Chinese Language Association). The Association is a non-governmental organization that does not receive permanent funding from any government agencies.It applies to them only in the case of major scientific events, such as international conferences.

To date, the Association has held 10 international conferences dedicated to teaching Chinese. The first was held in 1984, the second in 1988, subsequent conferences were held once every three years, and the last, the tenth, was held in 2011. Conferences are usually organized at the end of December.

Conferences are a serious scientific platform for exchanging opinions of scientists and practitioners from different countries of the world on topical issues of teaching and studying the Chinese language and culture. Their work involves from 200 to 400 people from various universities in the USA, Canada, England, France, Germany, Poland, as well as teachers of the Chinese language of secondary schools from countries where there is a large Chinese diaspora in the USA, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. Of course, teachers and scientists from Taiwan itself are seriously represented. In the last ten years, after the establishment of cultural and educational ties between the "two sides of the Taiwan Strait" (as mainland China and Taiwan are colloquially called), representatives of the mother country began to participate in conferences.-

to the Chinese market. Moreover, their number is constantly growing - if at first a few people came, now - several dozen. Sinologists from Russia first became participants in 1998 - these were MSU professors A.M. Karapetyants and Tan Aoshuang, as well as Doctor of Philology A. L. Semenas (IB RAS). Then there was a long break for 15 years. Participants from Russia-Head of the Chinese Language Department of the Moscow City Pedagogical University, Professor V. A. Kurdyumov and Professor of the same Department, Doctor of Philosophy V. G. Burov made presentations at the 9th and 10th conferences.

The order of conferences, which are usually held over four days, is as follows: the first and last days are plenary sessions, where the reports of famous scientists are heard and discussed, and on the second and third days there are breakout sessions devoted to a permanent topic-theoretical problems of the Chinese language (the first section is "Language analysis") and its issues. teaching methods (second section "Learning to teach"). Let us briefly review the content of breakout sessions at the last two conferences. In the first section, the following topics were discussed: problems of grammar, syntax and vocabulary of the Chinese language; parts of speech; sentence members; complex words, abbreviations, phonetic alphabet of pinyinzimu, verb suffixes of duration of action, proverbs (chenyu), stylistic features of the language; dialects, differences in language norms in mainland China and Taiwan; comparative analysis Chinese and other languages; the new vocabulary of the Chinese language in Singapore; the state of research in the field of Chinese linguistics; the relationship of theoretical research with teaching practice, etc.D. Many theoretical problems were discussed using examples of teaching Chinese in foreign-language classrooms.

The second section focused on the following issues: teaching materials on the Chinese language and methods of teaching it (there were a lot of reports on this topic); content of lecture courses; the system of teaching hieroglyphs; the situation in foreign Chinese language schools, including schools for the younger generation of the Chinese diaspora; explanation of the words of the ancient Chinese language in the process of teaching (Wenyang); use of media materials in the classroom; passing HSK exams (Mainland Chinese Language Proficiency Test); experience in self-study of the Chinese language; teaching Chinese in primary and secondary schools and even in kindergartens. There were also presentations of a generalizing nature, such as the formation and development of Chinese language teaching in the United States, the system of teaching Chinese in the European Union countries with the existing language learning program (CEFR); the content of the American Chinese language proficiency testing program-SATII (Sat Subject Test in Chinese With Listening); experience in conducting exams in national Chinese language in a dialect area of China such as Hong Kong (Hong Kong); use of the Internet in teaching. Many presentations addressed the issues of teaching Chinese in various countries around the world.

Breakout sessions are usually held in the format of discussing the submitted reports. At the same time, there is a broad panorama of the area of Chinese language teaching on all continents of the world, with the exception of Latin America, and a kind of rivalry between Taiwan and mainland China has emerged.

Special invited speakers will speak at the plenary sessions of the conference. At the 9th conference, such speakers were Prof. Dean Ban-Xin, Academician of the Taiwan Academy of Sciences (Sinica), Chairman of the Chinese (=Taiwanese) Linguistic Association, Honorary Member of the American Linguistic Association, Visiting Professor at the University of Berkeley (USA), Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; prof. Xing Fuyi, who has received many prestigious awards and titles, including the title of Professor for Life at Central China Normal University; Prof. Lu Jianming, Chairman of the Beijing-based International Chinese Language Teaching Association (similar to the Taiwan International Association), Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Linguistic Association, Professor at the Chinese Language Department of Peking University; Zhang Guo-en, Professor at Taiwan Normal University, Director of its library.

Ding Ban-Xin chose grammar-related problems as the topic of the report " What is the interest of learning Chinese?". He spoke about matching constructions and the principles of their construction on the example of phrases and complex words, the existing order of putting stress in them in both modern and ancient languages. The report examined the order of words in adjectives and nouns in various regions of China, which, according to

It is associated with dialect differences. In this regard, he gave examples from Hunan, Cantonese, and Fujian dialects. A significant part of the report was devoted to the problem of borrowing words and accents from dialects in Putonghua (the generally accepted state language in mainland China), in particular Cantonese, for example, dadi ("take a taxi"), maidan ("bill"), etc., as well as the use of homonyms in the Cantonese dialect that originally had a negative, " bad"meaning, but then changed its content. According to the speaker, "today's Beijing pronunciation" is a language of mixed dialects.

Xing Fuyi's report examined in detail the mistakes made in the use of words in the Chinese language, in particular when using adjuncts, using the verb qiqu ("to leave, to go") as an example. The speaker called for following three principles in linguistic research: first, the principle of objectivity, which means not adhering to ready-made templates; second, the situational principle, which means recognizing differences in discourse and rejecting outdated approaches; and third, the research principle, i.e. the requirement not to insist on one's opinion during the study process, and make reasoned conclusions. But the main thing, he stressed, is to start from the facts. Xing Fuyi then went through the specific examples with the numbers "ten plus" and "one hundred plus", giving his explanation for the word "plus".

Lu Jianming's report "Let's talk again about the need for basic learning of Chinese as a second language"was of great interest. Noting the growing interest in learning Chinese in the world and, consequently, a significant increase in the number of people who study it, he also complained that much remains to be done in this regard: first of all, to increase state allocations for the promotion and dissemination of the Chinese language; to prepare educational materials in Chinese in various scientific disciplines for students. foreign students studying at relevant higher education institutions; finally, it is necessary to overcome the perception that the Chinese language is difficult to learn.

Lu Jianming paid special attention to the preparation of textbooks for international students. Noting the achievements in this area (a significant number of relevant publications, the list he listed is far from complete-more than 20 manuals), he also pointed out serious shortcomings:

- a relatively small number of" good " textbooks;

- a large number of manuals for the initial course of the Chinese language and a small number for the intermediate and higher level of its study;

- publication of manuals, mainly devoted to the main course, and a small number of them for additional courses;

- a large number of textbooks for working in classrooms and a lack of materials for extracurricular, "home" work of students;

- lack of a sufficient number of reference manuals to help teachers;

- there are very few textbooks of a mass, publicly available nature for self-study of the Chinese language;

- there are a lot of textbooks in the form of printed texts, but very rarely there are voluminous auxiliary manuals, for example, disks with vocabulary from the mass media complete with texts with pictures and audio-visual materials;

- there are a lot of textbooks for classroom use, but very few manuals that are adapted for use on the Internet.

According to Lu Jianming, "it is difficult for us to promote our Chinese language textbooks intended for international students in other countries" because they are large in volume and lack public access due to existing differences in cultures. Therefore, in teaching Chinese, it is necessary to pay great attention to the specific national cultural and linguistic characteristics of each country (in the latter case, the speaker noted, Taiwanese textbooks compare favorably with similar textbooks published in mainland China).

Answering questions about how to encourage foreign students to read and learn Chinese textbooks and how to better teach them, Lu Jianmin stressed that it is necessary for Chinese to truly become the second main language in teaching after the native language. In his opinion, this requires, on the one hand, "creating sufficient scientific grounds" for textbooks and teaching aids, and on the other, paying attention to the development of a number of important problems of the Chinese language itself.

Speaking about the "scientific basis", Lu Jianming pointed out that, first, it is necessary to determine at what stage of training it is necessary to start learning hieroglyphs, how much time is spent on mastering them, how many hieroglyphs need to be studied at all, in what sequence and which ones, finally, what is the percentage of difficulty in learning them, what are the most important aspects of learning? specific interpretations of various hieroglyphs, etc. Secondly, in his opinion, the situation is similar with the study of phrases and expressions of the Chinese language. According to him, it is necessary to allocate appropriate time for studying nouns, verbs, adjectives, numerals, etc., pay attention to the most common mistakes when using words by students and how to identify synonyms and homonyms in the simplest way. Third, what grammar rules should be emphasized, in what order they should be studied, and so on.

Justifying the need for further research of the main grammatical features of the Chinese language, the speaker referred to mistakes made by foreign students. He explained these mistakes by the fact that Chinese language textbooks designed for Chinese students usually do not pay attention to the conditions that affect the meaning and meaning of certain words. He cited as examples such words as fan'eg ("on the contrary, on the contrary"), anshuo ("in accordance with what has been said"), wangwang ("often", "constantly", "usually"), etc. In conclusion of his report, based on an analysis of the use of the word ba ("ba")in textbooks Lu Jianming concluded that it is advisable to clearly distinguish between words and syntactic rules in the teaching process. The fact is that many words in Chinese have several meanings, each of them has its own sphere of use, and they differ in the degree of importance.

Zhang Guo-en spoke about the use of digital educational resources for teaching Chinese and the opening of special centers in various countries of the world with Taiwanese funds. Their geography allows us to draw a conclusion about the extent of Taiwan's influence on the spread of the Chinese language (in contrast to mainland China, where the term hanyu is used to denote it, in Taiwan the term huawen is used). Currently, there are 24 Chinese language learning centers, including 11 in the United States, one each in Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the Netherlands, Jordan, the Philippines, and others. The speaker spoke about the amount of funds allocated for digital educational resources, the effectiveness of their use, the number of students in the centers, the content of educational programs, the comparison of test criteria for Chinese language proficiency in Taiwan and mainland China, the number of students who took part in test exams, etc. COOL Chinese-Competence-Oriented Omniform Learning for Chinese as a Foreign Language. It includes four elements - learning materials, language learning, language teaching, and evaluation of learning outcomes.

At the 10th conference, the invited speakers were Professor Y.-H. Audrey Li of the University of Southern California, Professor of the State Taiwan University named after the President of the Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek Dai Gao-yi and Prof. Liu Zhaoxuan (General Association of Chinese Culture). Li Jue-Hui considered the problem of using the results of theoretical research in the field of linguistics in teaching Chinese. In his opinion, the United States seeks to ensure "good practices" in the process of teaching foreign languages, in particular Chinese. The materials used in teaching are largely focused on certain topics. The goal of the training is to provide a transition from learning a language in general to using it in real-life situations.

Dai Gao-Yi's report "Cognitive Grammar and Teaching Chinese in theory and practice" focused on the usual cognitive principles used in Chinese grammar, and at the same time on the practice of using them in teaching. The speaker emphasized that the main knowledge in learning and using the language is vocabulary and word order. His guide in analyzing the structure of vocabulary is the research of the well-known cognitive psychologist E. Roche. According to Dai Gao-Yi, nouns and verbs in the Chinese language are characterized by "systematic analyticity", and if you rely on it in textbooks and in the teaching process, students will be able to understand the vocabulary of the Chinese language and "vividly use" it in audio-visual practice, speaking, reading and writing texts. As for word order, the speaker referred to two simple cognitive principles that he put forward in his works - "temporal order" and "part of the whole", which he considers important to use in textbooks and in teaching practice.

Liu Zhaoxuan examined the influence of Chinese hieroglyphic writing on the culture of East Asia. He showed the formation of hieroglyphic writing through pictograms and ideograms to logical complexes in detail, using a visual series; spoke about the phonetic categories of hieroglyphs, which in modern Chinese make up 90%, about the original beauty of Chinese hieroglyphic writing, the art of calligraphy, and, finally, that the cultural influence of China is present not only in Hong Kong Hong Kong), Macao (Macao), Taiwan, but also in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore.

At a special session, four professors from Taiwan Normal University shared their experience in using the latest scientific and technical tools in the educational process with a joint report on "Using digital technologies in teaching and learning Chinese".

Since the aim of the International Association is to promote the Chinese language all over the world, it is not surprising that one of its central issues is to improve teaching methods. At the 9th conference, a special interview on teaching Chinese to foreign students was organized, where specialists working in universities and schools in the United States and Vietnam shared their experience.

Within the framework of the 10th conference, two interviews were also held: the first one was devoted to the requirements of the educational process and its prospects in higher educational institutions of various countries of the world (representatives of mainland Chinese universities, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, the USA, Japan, and Korea); the second-to the future of the Chinese language in the world (representatives of mainland China, Singapore, the United States, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, and Canada).

The presentations of the participants of the two interviews made it possible to draw a conclusion about the scale of promotion of the Chinese language on a global scale. In mainland China, the Confucius Institutes play an important role in this process, which currently operate in 106 countries, with a total number of about 400. Confucius Institutes are established with State support by the special State Chancellery for the Dissemination of the Chinese language. Zheng Tongtao (Xiamen University) spoke about the university's international activities for the dissemination of the Chinese language: through the Confucius Institute, he established contacts with 14 universities around the world(!) - USA, Thailand, England, Poland, Germany, France, Turkey, Nigeria, South Africa, Malta, New Zealand, Canada. (The fact is that according to the statute of the Confucius Institute, it should be created in another country in cooperation with one of the Chinese universities.) Also, in order to spread the Chinese language at the university, the Internet is widely used, six centers have been created: a Center for collecting information (necessary for international activities); a Training center responsible for training Chinese language teachers to work abroad, models and methods of teaching Chinese, etc. The Center for Transparency, which is designed to prepare relevant educational and promotional materials; the Evaluation Center, which develops criteria for evaluating the performance of teachers and staff of Confucius Institutes, as well as students; The Research Center, which oversees the study of the laws of countries where Confucius Institutes and their existing education systems operate, the processes of spreading the Chinese language and culture; it publishes scientific publications. magazines and books; a planning center whose responsibility is to "participate in market relations" and create an "international market for Chinese language teaching".

Xiamen University conducts significant research work on the dissemination of the Chinese language: it carries out a number of scientific projects, organizes special symposia on this topic, publishes journals - "Teaching Chinese abroad", "Tribune of Teaching Chinese Abroad", "International Bulletin of the Chinese Language" and "Journal of Chinese Studies".

As Zheng Tongtao emphasized, the need to spread the language is one of the important ways to increase the" soft power " of states in the world. According to him, the Chinese nation should therefore think about moving towards peace and mutual understanding, and participate in international cooperation.

Zhou Qinghai (Nanyang Tech. University of Singapore) drew attention to the process of mutual influence and "mixing" of the modern Chinese language spoken in the PRC with versions of the Chinese language existing in countries and regions where ethnic Chinese live, which began after the "policy of reform and openness" adopted in China in 1978. But so far, according to him

However, this process occurs only in the vocabulary, as for grammar, there are still differences here.

Starting in 1994, Singapore scientists began to think about the need to bring their Chinese language (Huayu) closer to the national language of the People's Republic of China - Putonghua. They assumed that strengthening and maintaining close ties between them could not lead to Singapore losing its identity as an independent state and the national characteristics of Singaporeans. At the initiative of Zhou Qinghai, as he described in his speech, in the 1990s, work began on the compilation of the" world dictionary of the Chinese language", which involved scientists from 12 universities, as well as scientific organizations in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. This dictionary was published in 2010. Now the speaker, together with his colleagues from mainland China, Xing Fuyi, Lu Jianming and others, is planning the preparation of the "Great World Grammar of the Chinese Language".

Scientists from Russia took part in the 9th and 10th conferences: V. G. Burov made a report "The process of word formation in modern Chinese vocabulary (on the example of Mainland Chinese vocabulary)" at the 9th conference. In 2007, he co-authored the Chinese-Russian Dictionary of New Words and Expressions. During the preparation of the dictionary, which took seven years, its authors had to do a lot of research work. It was possible to find out the content and features of the word formation process in modern China. Chinese vocabulary is constantly changing, with new words and expressions appearing. This is connected with the development of society and human cognition, as well as with the development of the language itself.

New words can occur in the following situations:: 1) to denote new phenomena; 2) to replace old names with new ones; 3) in connection with the phenomenon of complementarity, when they coexist with old names, differentiating according to styles, situations of use; 4) when new meanings appear that have preserved the forms of the old word; 5) when old words are "resurrected".

Not all new words are stable, a significant part of them, having passed the test of time, "lives" in modern Chinese; others disappear in the process of development; a third of neologisms have not passed the test of time. Such a process is an objective pattern of language development. Many neologisms remain in newspapers, books, and materials from the period of their existence.

The following trends can be observed in the modern Chinese language: first, it has a lot of borrowings, mainly from English. There are four types of borrowings: phonetic, semantic, semi-semantic, and semi-phonetic hybrid ones, where elements of both languages are present. One of the elements of borrowing a foreign word is its Sinicization (for example, the word AIDS); secondly, many new words and expressions came to modern Chinese from Hong Kong (Hong Kong), as well as Taiwan; thirdly, there were borrowings from dialects (colloquial words and expressions, slang words); fourth, abbreviations. Compound words can be divided into four types: names, abbreviations, compound names, and generalized expressions. Most new words and expressions have the same meaning. Neologisms are mostly specific and therefore accessible to ordinary Chinese. V. G. Burov illustrated the provisions of his report with a large amount of lexical material. It was collected and analyzed by the speaker for almost ten years.

The topic of V. G. Burov's report at the 10th conference was the teaching of the training course "Ancient Languages and Culture", consisting of five sections. The first section, devoted to the problems of language, deals with the following issues: hieroglyphic writing, its origin and formation, Chinese language, dialects of the Chinese language, the state language - Putonghua, Chinese language and Chinese culture, the Chinese alphabet, the language situation in modern China, the reform of the Chinese language, dictionaries of the Chinese language. The second section is devoted to Chinese mythology; it tells about the legendary Chinese rulers-Huandi, Yao, Shun, Yuya, describes the myths of Pangu, Nuwa and Fuxi and others, the virtuous rule of Zhou Wen-wang and Zhou Wu-wang, as well as about the tyrant "villains" Tse-wan and Zhou-xing. The content of the third section consists of customs and traditions of the Chinese people that originated in ancient times: the cult of ancestors, the celebration of the Lunar New Year (chunjie), sacrifices, "feng shui", Chinese medicine, the imperial court, mourning ceremonies, Chinese food. An important fourth section introduces students to the traditional Chinese teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. The fifth section is devoted to the history of China. Course "Ancient Languages and Cultures"

culture" aims to give students an idea of the history and culture of China, the basic principles on which the spiritual life of the Chinese and the entire Chinese civilization is based.

V. A. Kurdyumov made presentations on "Topic and Explanation as the most general categories of the Chinese language and linguistics" and "Chinese as an ideal object of linguistic study" by S. G. Korovin (MSPU) in the report "Teaching modern Chinese Literature in Russia: Reality and prospects" (not read at the conference, but published in its materials) raised a number of key issues related to university standards and curricula, teaching methods, and the availability of specialist teachers. She analyzed the content of academic disciplines in which students acquire knowledge of modern Chinese literature. Speaking about the selection of educational material for the university course "History of Chinese Literature", S. G. Korovina noted, in particular, several problems of a systematic and methodological nature. The volume of Chinese literature before the 1980s is generally defined, so the study of this period does not cause any particular difficulties. At the same time, Chinese literature at the present stage has undergone significant changes not only in the field of content, but also in the choice of writers ' artistic method and form of artistic works. This diversity causes ambiguous assessments among specialists, and methodologists-disputes about the expediency of studying the work of a particular writer. The speaker spoke about the urgent need to develop scientific research on modern Chinese literature in today's Russia, publish new educational materials, translate works of art, textbooks, etc.Theproblem of studying literature in the original language can be partially solved by creating anthologies of representative works of art.

S. G. Korovina presented the methodology for creating a textbook on analytical reading. Thus, as a result of a consistent analysis of problems in the field of studying and teaching modern Chinese literature, S. G. Korovina was able to outline possible ways to overcome the current unfavorable situation.

In 2009, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the international conferences, the book "Learning and Teaching Chinese: A Look at the past quarter of a Century and future Prospects" was published, in which well-known Taiwanese linguists summed up their results from a theoretical and practical point of view.

It should be emphasized that the example of Taiwan was "contagious" in the good sense of the word. International conferences on Chinese language teaching and learning were also held in mainland China, the United States, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe, and until 2006 in Russia.

Concluding the conversation about conferences, it should be noted that usually during their special meeting is devoted to getting acquainted with new literature on the Chinese language. Representatives of various publishing houses in Taiwan and mainland China organize an exhibition and sale of their book products.

International conferences on the Chinese language are an important event in the cultural and scientific life of Taiwan, they are attended by political and public figures of the island. Taiwan's leader Ma Yin-ju delivered an interesting speech at the 9th conference. He spoke about the need to popularize Chinese writing in the form of complete characters throughout the Chinese-speaking area, because "language defines culture, culture defines the nation", and full characters are a beautiful script with a long history. As you know, after the language reform of the 1950s in mainland China, in order to eliminate mass illiteracy, a transition was made to abbreviated characters, while in Taiwan full characters remained in use. Recently, in mainland China, in some cases, full characters have been used, for example, on business cards. Ma Yin-ju also said that it is necessary to seek the inclusion of complete hieroglyphs in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

The Chinese Language Association does not only organize international conferences, but also has a multi-faceted nature. First of all, this is publishing. Since 1974, the Association publishes the journal "World of Chinese Culture" (Huawen Shijie) once a quarter (with a break in 2001-2005), which publishes articles on theoretical problems of Chinese linguistics, Chinese history and culture, and methods of teaching the Chinese language. For forty years of its existence, the magazine has become an authoritative international publication. Since 2004, the Association has been publishing the journal "Learning Chinese Language Teaching" ("Huayuwen Jiaoyue yanjiu"), specifically dedicated to teaching issues.

At the same time, with the assistance of the Association, a special series of books on Chinese language teaching was published in 2009-2010. The release of such a series was explained not only by educational, but also to some extent by political considerations. For 30 years, Taiwan held a leading position in the market of book products on the problems of teaching Chinese, but after the widespread deployment of the "policy of reform and openness" in mainland China, the primacy in publishing such books passed to it. In this regard, the Association, together with leading Taiwanese specialists, took a corresponding action. To date, the series has already released 21 books. Here are their titles: "Chinese Society and Culture", "Research methods and writing articles in the process of teaching Chinese", "A Journey through vocabulary", "Content of the Science of teaching Chinese", "Chinese Linguistics", "Comparative Analysis and teaching of Chinese", "Towards evaluating the Chinese language","System of principles for classifying teaching materials in the Chinese language", "Teaching and learning Chinese: theory and practice", "Teaching Chinese through mass media", "Learning a second language in the classroom", "Learning the use of language and teaching Chinese", "New information about the syntax of the Chinese language. Part 1" Part 2", "Theory of learning a second language and its application", "Studying society and culture in the process of teaching Chinese", "Learning pronunciation in the process of teaching Chinese as a second language", "Pronunciation of the Chinese language and its teaching", " Teaching Chinese and literature as a path to leadership", "Feelings (peace of mind) of a person when getting acquainted with the Chinese language and learning how to teach it","Teaching Chinese to children".

In addition, the Association publishes various textbooks and materials, in particular, on behalf of the government publishing committee, it has published three series of books on the following topics: Chinese culture (folk festivals, calligraphy, poetry of the Tang era); dialects and culture that are widespread in Taiwan (Minnan, Hakka and Aboriginal, as well as Taiwanese culture at the intersection of Chinese and Chinese languages). epochs); colloquial language training materials (for lower, intermediate, and higher levels and for reading).

The International Association of the Chinese Language conducts systematic training of teachers of the Chinese language, not only in Taiwan itself, but also abroad. During the period from 1977 to 2009, more than 8 thousand people were trained in special courses, who already work both in Chinese language centers inside Taiwan and in educational institutions of various levels in other countries. At the same time, special experimental courses are organized for foreign students, where the Chinese language is taught by specialists in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture, etc. In 1994-1997, they reached over 900 students in the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and more than 400 international students in Taiwan itself, as well as more than 1,600 Taiwanese students and students.

For a number of years, the Association participated in a four-year program organized by the Taiwan Ministry of Education to prepare Chinese language courses for people from the Chinese diaspora, where the conditions for them to learn their native language are not always favorable. For example, in Indonesia, until recently, local ethnic Chinese were denied the right to learn their native language and even forced to change their surnames to Indonesian. On behalf of government agencies, the Association takes an active part in working with youth groups - children of Chinese immigrants who come to Taiwan as part of excursion groups. Courses on Chinese language, Chinese calligraphy (shuhua), painting (Guohua), and traditional folk art are organized for them. After the Democratic Progressive Party government came to power in 2001, the arrival of these groups was discontinued, as the party emphasized its Taiwanese rather than Chinese identity, but after the Kuomintang's victory in the 2008 elections, such activities were resumed.

The Association also works with postgraduates and doctoral students specializing in the Chinese language - special forums are organized for them. The first was held in 2006 in Guangzhou, the second in 2008 in Kaohsiung (Taiwan), and the third in 2009 in Shanghai. These forums are a platform for exchanging opinions for young scientists. More than 100 people took part in the forum in 2009, and more than 50 presentations were made by graduate students from universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United States.

With the assistance of the Association, a practical faculty of Chinese Language and Literature was established at Zhongyuan University in Taiwan, and later similar faculties were organized at other Taiwanese universities.

Over the years of its existence, the Association has participated in many Taiwanese and international projects. Let's name the largest of them:

* 1972. Preparation of 10 Chinese language textbooks for primary and secondary schools in Finland.

* 1997 Organization of a conference in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong on the preparation of test tasks in the Chinese language.

* 1998-2002 Organization of several conferences for teachers from Taiwan and other countries working with the Chinese diaspora, aimed at introducing new teaching methods.

* Organization of Chinese language courses for French students in cooperation with the Polytechnic University of France.

* Organization of similar courses for students of the Polytechnic Institute of the Philippines.

* Organizing similar courses for teachers from Vietnam on behalf of the Taiwan Ministry of Economy.

* 1998-2003, On behalf of the Ministry of Education, selection of academic specialists to train Taiwanese university teachers sent abroad in the best methods of teaching Chinese.

* 2002 Organization of advanced training courses for teachers of Chinese language and literature.

• 2003 Together with the Sinica Academy of Sciences, we are preparing Chinese language courses for international graduate students.

* 2005-2006 Assistance to the Taipei City Government in organizing scientific symposia on "Characters in a globalized world" (full and abbreviated characters).

* 2006 Organization in cooperation with Kaohsiung Normal University (Taiwan) scientific and practical training seminar for Chinese language teachers.

* 2007 Conference "Searching for a border crossing: International Scientific Symposium 2007 on the Chinese Language and its teaching"held jointly with the Practical University.

* 2008 Organization of the "2008 Scientific Symposium on Teaching and Development of Chinese Language and Literature in the Asia-Pacific Region" in cooperation with Taiwan's Zhongyuan University.

• 2008 On behalf of the leadership of the Expat Society, an international scientific symposium "The use of hieroglyphs and the teaching of Chinese language and literature"was held.

After establishing cultural and educational contacts between the "two sides of the Taiwan Strait", the association began to actively cooperate with universities on the mainland and their Chinese language specialists. Significant results have been achieved in this regard in recent years. In particular:

* An agreement was signed with Guangzhou University to hold joint conferences on the Chinese language, organize teacher exchanges, hold graduate student forums, winter and summer schools, train personnel, etc.

* In 2007, a protocol was signed with the Beijing Institute of Language and Culture, which provides for joint conferences on teaching Chinese language and literature, as well as joint training of teachers to work in other countries.

* Regular participation of Taiwanese specialists in the examinations conducted in Beijing by the Ministry of Education of China for knowledge of the national language - Putonghua-is organized.

* Organizing exchanges of university leaders to learn about the experience of teaching Chinese language and literature on "both sides of the Taiwan Strait". The first visit of the Taiwanese delegation took place from August 31 to September 10, 2008. The return visit of the delegation from Beijing took place on September 10, 2009.

In conclusion, it should be noted that over the years of the association's existence, eight of its chairmen have been replaced, but Mr. Dong Peng-Cheng has been its permanent executive director for more than thirty years. A modest, charming, friendly person, an enthusiast in his field, we can say that he is the soul of the association, a great organizer with his small staff, doing big things. I have known him for twenty years and am always amazed by the energy of this elderly man (he is 83 years old).

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