The Transformation Of Chinese Language Education In Thailand After World War Ⅱ

Chinese had long history of migrating to Thailand. Overseas Chinese community in Thailand endured a process from formation to growth, so did the development of Chinese language education in Thailand, which has become one of the significant pillars of overseas Chinese community. In the late 18th century, Thailand had the embryonic form of Chinese schools and modern Chinese schools in Thailand appeared in the early 20th century, and since then, Thailand's Chinese language education went into the right track. However, the rise of the Great Thai Chauvinism made Chinese language education suffer serious setback.After the World Warâ…¡, Chinese language education in Thailand had experienced a short-term rehabilitation, and then diminished increasingly under the resurrection of the Great Thai Chauvinism, the Cold War impact and the Thailand government's assimilation policy. China and Thailand improved relations between the two countries for establishing diplomatic relations which cannot change the decline of Chinese language education.Long-term assimilation policy resulted in majority of the overseas Chinese naturalized and promoted the Chinese language education from native language education into foreign language education.With recession of ideological conflict between Thailand and China after the Cold War, the promotion of China's reform and opening up as well as China's increasingly strong international status, Chinese is becoming increasingly important in Thailand. Thailand fully liberalized Chinese language education from their own practical needs which promoted Chinese language education step into a new era.In recent years, the Confucius Institutes have been widely established in Thailand in the charge of Chinese Language Council International Office that is committed to the promotion of Chinese education abroad. Nowadays, "Chinese fever" is so popular in Thailand that the number of people who study Chinese are increasing. We must solve all kinds of problems which may hinder the development when we are making full use of the opportunities and only in this way can ensure Chinese language education in Thailand develop on the track.The most important reason why Chinese language education kept developing is that Chinese has changed gradually from native language into foreign language, which made the Thailand government take measures to encourage Chinese language education rather than interfere Chinese language education at some extent. And the bottleneck of Chinese language education in Thailand is faculty force. Only having a large number of qualified indigenous teachers can the normal and continuous development of Chinese education in Thailand be guaranteed.