The International Chinese Language Day was celebrated across Pakistan over the weekend as more and more Pakistanis enrol to learn one of the most popular languages in the world. Pakistanis are also interested in the Chinese language due to the massive investments by China in Pakistan, mainly under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). According to Gwadar Pro, this year, International Chinese Language Day was celebrated in Pakistan under the theme "Chinese Language: Facilitating Dialogues across Civilisations". The China-funded Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms across Pakistan held a series of activities, providing a language and culture feast for language lovers.

In Pakistan there are five major Confucius schools operating including the ones in National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Islamabad, the University of Sargodha, the University of Punjab, the University of Agriculture and the University of Karachi.  More than 30,000 students in these institutes are learning the Chinese language. The Chinese language is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is the language of the second-largest economy in the world. Therefore, many people from developing countries are learning this language.

This language has a very rich heritage that has existed in the world for thousands of years. Chinese is one of the official languages of the United Nations. To give honour to this language, the UN observes Chinese language day every year on April 20.  Initially, it was celebrated in 2010 to boost multilingualism and cultural diversity. Moreover, the United Nation wanted to promote the equal use of all of its six official languages which are English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. The first UN Chinese language day was celebrated on November 12, 2010. However, in 2011, the date was changed to April 20.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP