03. Jun 2009
Promotion of Mandarin in TAR
(Xinhua) Chinese authorities have launched a major programme to promote Mandarin Chinese (Chin: putonghua) across the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). A Xinhua report said that the language was now being widely used by Tibetan people in both urban and rural areas. After four years, 23,000 teachers, college students and civil servants have attended Mandarin training and testing courses and obtained certificates for the Mandarin proficiency test, according to Xinhua. A Mandarin training and testing network had been established in the TAR, with one regional Mandarin training and testing centre, five stations at colleges and seven at prefectural level. Since April 2005, when the Tibet Regional State Language Affairs Commission was set up, six prefectures have now set up similar commissions. The latest step in promoting Mandarin was the opening on 27 May of a training course for examiners of Mandarin testing at regional level. The course, the third of its kind, will train specialists in conducting Mandarin tests for all industries throughout the TAR, Xinhua reported.