How sociopolitics shapes the English language market in China
China's relationship with the English language is almost like none other. From uneasy beginnings to favouritism, and from favouritism back to rejection, the eastern power's love-hate dynamics with English in a short 200-year timeframe is coloured by its ever-shifting relationship with the world.
From Uneasy Beginnings to Favouritism
Along with many other Western European languages, English made its way into China by way of Western imperialism, and its introduction was most prominent during the opium wars in the 19th century. With the influx of foreign powers imposing unfair treaties, hostility towards English and other European languages grew. Scepticism towards Christian missionaries at the time only enhanced such sentiments. Following China's defeat in the opium wars, the Self-strengthening Movement (1861-1895) aroused the urge to adopt Western science and get China back on its feet in global order. This did ignite practical interest in learning English (with the first English schools being established around this time), but fast-forwarding to the Cold War and Mao's Cultural Revolution, an anti-Western stance grew once more, leading to a sharp drop in English learning.
From uneasy beginnings to favouritism, and from favouritism back to rejection, the eastern power's love-hate dynamics with English in a short 200-year timeframe is coloured by its ever-shifting relationship with the world.
From Favouritism Back to Rejection
With Mao's decline, China opened up and began a proper reform under Deng Xiaoping's lead. English then regained significance as the key to rebuilding China's economy. It became a mandatory subject in schools and was seen as an incredibly crucial tool for prosperity and social mobility. The intensity of English language learning peaked during China's preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Eight years before the event, the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Committee had already been given the grand responsibility of leveraging the capital's proficiency in the English language, although the result of the project was never fully assessed.
The tides have turned, however. China's rise on the global stage, coupled with a scoop of nationalism, has shaped its views towards the English language. The authorities maintain that English lessons simply take up too much time, with only a small fraction of the population going on to use English in their professional lives. Legislators were pushing to remove English from the national curriculum and even university entrance exams (Gaokao) in 2021 in the wake of Xi Jingping's call to strengthen China's 'cultural confidence'. The wave of AI and the authorities' willingness to bet on machine translation also led to such a notion, but ideological purity essentially stands at the base of the current rejection.
Even if the English language were to be entirely removed from the national curriculum, the pre-existing, strong mobile language learning market will likely continue to act as a space for the pursuit of English as a lingua franca in China.
What will the English Language Teaching Landscape Look Like in China Moving Forward?
Despite the Chinese government's ongoing anti-English sentiment, the English Language Teaching landscape is unlikely to dwindle significantly. As long as its doors for international business stay open, English language proficiency will remain an attractive asset in the job market. As much as 85% of respondents in a city-wide survey in Shanghai concurred in 2021: practical economic need should dictate English language uptake more than anything else. Even if the English language were to be entirely removed from the national curriculum, the pre-existing, strong mobile language learning market will likely continue to act as a space for the pursuit of English as a lingua franca in China—at least in the case of adult learners who have already left policy-controlled high schools.
This is part of The Applied Linguist's Attitudes Towards ELT column.