Vietnamese educator offers free Mandarin classes in Wuhan

International student Nguyen Thi Phuc from Vietnam teaches Chinese to more than 1,500 parents and their children in Wuhan, Hubei province, free of charge amid the rising interest in Mandarin among her fellow citizens.

"In today's global integration, mastering Mandarin is not only beneficial for international communication but can also bring more job opportunities," she said.

After graduating from Hanoi Open University in 2015, where she majored in Chinese language, she joined a Chinese construction company and contributed to building Vietnam's first light rail.

"It was my honor. My Chinese proficiency was not outstanding at that time. Transitioning from a Chinese major student to a business negotiation assistant for a State-owned enterprise was a significant challenge for me. I needed to work hard to study the professional vocabulary related to the project. At the same time, I needed to learn negotiation skills to help both parties reach consensus," she said.

During her spare time, she met other Vietnamese who wanted their children to learn Mandarin. However, the country doesn't have many textbooks suitable for children, and schools that teach Chinese are expensive.

In 2022, she built a non-profit online group to teach pinyin to parents. The group meets once a month and covers China's development, culture and customs in addition to language.

In 2023, she began to further her studies at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan for a master's degree in international education in the Chinese language.

"I hope that in the future, I can bring back what I have learned and help more people learn Chinese, thereby jointly promoting cultural exchange and development between China and Vietnam," she said.