TAIPEI – How do you say “MRT” in Mandarin?
In this particular Chinese language class, the correct answer is “jieyun” – a Taiwan-specific term – and not “ditie”, which is used in mainland China.
Reading comprehension exercises here can be about Taiwan’s night markets, with references to stinky tofu and bubble tea; and writing is done in traditional Chinese characters instead of the simplified characters preferred across the Taiwan Strait.
Finally, students might be prompted to practise saying where they are from with the following phrase: “Wo shi tai wan ren, ni ne?” – I am Taiwanese, how about you?
The scenes described above provide a snapshot of what lessons are like at a Taiwan Centre For Mandarin Learning (TCML) – the Taiwan government-funded overseas learning centres which, as they admit, offer Mandarin education with “Taiwanese characteristics”.
Since their introduction in 2021, Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council has set up 88 centres across Europe and the US, in major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Paris, as part of Taiwan’s efforts to use Mandarin to promote cultural diplomacy.
These centres are typically established within existing language schools or community associations, which receive Taiwan government funding and resources to cover operating expenses.
An estimated NT$541 million (S$23.1 million) so far has been spent to fund the programme.
The programme is set to significantly extend its reach: In 2026, new centres will be established in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.
Dr Elaine Chung, a Chinese studies lecturer at Cardiff University in the UK, told The Straits Times that it was unsurprising Taipei had selected those countries to set up language centres.
“These nations share democratic norms and are likely seen by the Taiwanese government as providing a favourable context for cultivating long-term international goodwill and political support amid intensifying cross-strait tensions,” she said.
Taiwan faces the constant threat of invasion by China,
which views the island as its territory
and has in recent years ramped up its military and diplomatic pressure against it to assert its sovereignty claims.
In a July speech addressing TCML’s expansion plans, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi said that Mandarin education served as one of the island’s most effective diplomatic tools.
“Mandarin language exchanges have brought Taiwan to the world and the world to Taiwan,” he added.
If the TCMLs sound like Taiwanese counterparts to China’s dwindling government-funded Confucius Institutes (CIs), that is because they were designed to be that way.
Founded in 2004, CIs are language and culture education centres embedded in overseas universities and colleges, whose stated purpose is to promote Chinese language and culture.
But as tensions between Washington and Beijing intensified in recent years, concerns have grown over the alleged use of CIs as tools for Chinese propaganda and espionage in American educational institutions.
Critics have accused CIs of censoring discussions on issues sensitive to the Communist Party of China, such as the Cultural Revolution and alleged human rights abuses in Tibet.
From a peak of roughly 100 CIs in the US in 2018, fewer than five remain operating in the country, according to a 2023 report by the US Government Accountability Office.
A similar wariness about the rise of China’s influence in parts of Europe has also led to rapid closures of some CIs in countries such as Sweden, Spain and Germany.
Taiwan saw a chance to fill the void, teaching adult students its version of Mandarin – along with its democratic values – as Beijing’s threats against the island have become increasingly aggressive.
In 2021, Taipei launched the TCML programme and marketed it as an alternative source of Mandarin instruction that was open and democratic.
Besides the programme, Taiwan also runs a long-running scholarship programme offered to international students, including from Singapore, to travel to Taiwan to study Mandarin.
Another scheme involves sending Mandarin language teachers from Taiwan to teach in US universities.
Dr Chung said: “Taiwan’s active promotion of Mandarin reflects its ambition to mobilise the language as a cultural resource that projects value-based soft power, emphasising its democratic and liberal identity as distinct from China on the international stage.”
At London’s Hua Hsia Chinese School – a TCML centre – some 70 students have signed up to master basic Mandarin while picking up factoids about Taipei 101 and how to identify cities and counties on a Taiwan map.
Many students have some kind of connection to Taiwan, either by marriage or business ties.
Ms Katja Ting, who runs the school, said she felt heartened by the show of interest in the course, despite the significant challenge in learning to read traditional Chinese characters versus simplified script.
“One of our students said that it has always been his dream to learn traditional characters because he thinks they’re more beautiful,” she told ST in a video call.
“Our Japanese students also prefer it because the same characters are used in their Kanji writing system.”
Experts noted, however, that the promotion of traditional Chinese script as a unique feature of Taiwan could also be its drawback.
“The education system in most countries teaches Modern Standard Chinese as it is spoken and written in China, which is ‘putonghua’ with simplified characters,” said Dr Jeffrey Gil, who has researched extensively on the topic.
“That means that TCMLs are teaching a kind of Chinese that most students haven’t studied and which doesn’t match their prior learning experiences,” said the lecturer from Australia’s Flinders University.
“This raises questions as to if and how TCMLs can connect with and contribute to existing Chinese language education programmes abroad,” he told ST.
Dr Chung noted that despite the political controversy surrounding CIs, international students see the appeal of learning a version of Mandarin that is usable in China due to perceived academic or career advantages in the long run.
After conducting interviews with 30 university students in the UK majoring in Chinese studies, she found that even as students were critical of China’s political system, many preferred to learn the version of Mandarin as written and spoken in China.
“While Taiwan works to brand its Mandarin education as a progressive, liberal alternative, it struggles against the gravitational pull of China’s global economic and political dominance,” she said.
For Ms Ting, who heads the TCML centre in London, Taiwan’s Mandarin education strategy should be seen as offering students an additional choice.
“That’s better than thinking of it as a competition with China. Students will want to learn Taiwan’s version of Mandarin for specific reasons, and it’s good that they have this option,” she said.
