Myanmar Chinese Communication Research

As China experiences enhancement of its comprehensive power and international status, international promotion of Chinese language has strode into a new age. Many countries have seen domestic heat of Chinese learning. Chinese language is reaching out to the world quickly. As important carriers of Chinese language in globalization, Confucius Institutes and Confucius classrooms are flourishing worldwide. According to the data issued by Hanban, by December2011,358Confucius Institutes and500Confucius Classrooms have been established in105countries or regions all around the world, with500000registered students.China and Myanmar are two neighboring countries with close geographic links and long traditional friendship. Chinese language education started as early as in the19th century in Myanmar. However, the spread of Chinese language in Myanmar lags behind other nations in the global context of "Chinese fever". The current situation of it is embodied by:marginalized Chinese teaching which remains a narrow survival with the support of non-governmental powers; no existence of Confucius institute but two Confucius classes; no more than100,000Chinese learners enrolled each year out of over8million Myanmar students at school.Myanmar has a good foundation for Chinese education, and boasts superior geographical conditions. However, Chinese language does not enjoy undisturbed spreading. What are the underlying causes behind the phenomenon, and what are the factors facilitating or restricting Chinese spread? Considering the characteristics of Myanmar's politics, economy, education and language policy with compound factors of its status quo, what kind of strategy can promote the development of Chinese in Myanmar? What kind of positive resource can we draw upon from the study of the mode of Chinese language's spread and make it referential to other less developed countries? These are main problems to be discussed in focus of this study.By using such research methods as literature review, macro-comprehensive analysis, field survey, interviewing, and combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, this paper forms a comprehensive view of the current situation of Chinese language teaching in Myanmar, including teaching Chinese as the mother language or as a foreign language, and presents an analysis of the traits and problems of Chinese teaching in consideration of Myanmar's politics, economy, education and language policy.This paper consists of three main parts. Part I is an introduction to the background of the research regarding its purpose, significance, methods, content and literature review. Part II reports the overall situation of Chinese teaching in Myanmar. Firstly, it introduces the national condition of Myanmar and the relationship between China and Myanmar, and then makes a diachronic study of Chinese language's spread in Myanmar. Secondly, from the perspectives of teacher, teaching material and pedagogy, a series of analyses have been made focused on the general situation of teaching Chinese as the mother language or as a foreign language in addiction to factors that propel or impair Chinese teaching in Myanmar. Part III opens a theoretical discussion over strategies for the development of Chinese language in the country.The study finds that there are three contributing factors to Chinese spread in Myanmar:the rapid development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation between China and Myanmar, favorable political atmosphere, and the indomitable spirit of overseas Chinese in Myanmar. On the other hand, four factors are found to constrain the language's development:the relatively closed education system, restrained status of Chinese language, unacknowledged identity of overseas Chinese and unsound system of Chinese teaching.The study also found that,"non-governmental phenomenon" is the most prominent feature of the current situation of Chinese spread in Myanmar. Even though the Chinese teaching does operate to some extent under government's guidance, the situation is only seen in public schools which enjoy benefit from relevant policies of foreign education in a rather reserved scale. The Chinese teaching of other types, such as Chinese schools, Confucius Classrooms and language training institutes, are neither supported, nor prohibited by laws, without encouragement or objection from the government. These forms of teaching survive and develop due to the need of the society. Although it does not come into the main stream of national education system, it is very influential, because it spreads and covers the whole area of Chinese communities in Myanmar. In this meaning, non-government channels can be one of the strategies of Chinese spread in Myanmar.It is proposed that,"optimizing through grafting" could be an effective approach to the dramatic development of Chinese spread in Myanmar. There are two layers of meaning in it:for one part, Chinese teaching in Myanmar could be optimized by an integration of the nation's domestic foundation for Chinese teaching and introductions of foreign capital, resources and foreign talents, and thus be promoted to a higher level. Private schools enjoy advantageous conditions in Chinese teaching, but owing to various kinds of restraints and confinements, their promotion of Chinese language has been on a bumpy way without dramatic development for long. Facing the timing of opening wider to the outside world and substantial reform by the new government, there are bright prospects to upgrade Chinese teaching. Optimization results could be realized through grafting favorable resources from China in terms of teachers'contingent, teaching materials and methods to Myanmar's traditions in Chinese teaching, through advantageous complement so as to propel its teachers'training and form its specialty for the overall improvement of Chinese language's teaching.For another, Chinese spread in Myanmar is a non-governmental phenomenon at present. We do hope that the government will take a leading role by top-level designing, formulating relevant policies and strategic planning, pushing forward Chinese teaching onto a higher level. The model of "optimizing through grafting" can be implemented by government's radiation in an inclination of top-down and graded levels from the official to the folk. The higher the government's force is, the better for Chinese leaping development in Myanmar.This paper also puts forward five concrete suggestions that can be helpful to promoting Chinese spread in Myanmar, which are:top-level design by government; to establish Chinese teaching program and assessment standards; to strengthen teachers'training and improve the quality of teachers; to optimize the curriculum; to compile localized Chinese language textbooks.To sum up, this research not only has certain referential value for Chinese spreading in Myanmar, but also a good source of reference and enlightenment for other under-development countries that are facing similar challenges in Chinese spread. As a case study, theoretic thinking of this research will enrich the theory of Chinese globalization in particular.