Confucius Institutes ban Taiwanese from expat teacher list
Luo Yin-chong and Staff Reporter
2015-02-02
A woman poses among plastic Confucius dolls in Taipei, Dec. 23, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)
The Confucius Institute, China's international network of Chinese-language teaching institutions, does not hire teachers from Taiwan because its mission is to promote Chinese culture and language and is considered to have a soft-power political aspect to its mission, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
Lee Pei-yu, a Taiwanese student enrolled at a PhD program at Peking University specializing in Chinese language teaching, said Taiwanese students are often have the illusion that they could be sent abroad by the Confucius Institute once they complete their studies, and that there is a very wide selection of jobs. This is far from the reality however, Lee says.
Representatives of Taiwan's Association of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language had urged that Taiwanese students be granted the chance to be sent abroad to teach Chinese, said Lee. Hanban officials replied that they would consider the possibility. But according to Lee, Taiwanese people are excluded, either as teachers or as volunteers.
Liu Chuan-wei, another Taiwanese student at Peking University, confirmed that all Chinese-language teachers and volunteer workers sent abroad are from mainland China and Taiwanese students are banned from such opportunities.
Lee urged China to allow Taiwanese students to exercise their teaching talent abroad. But she also admitted that most events organized by the Confucius Institute would fly the PRC flag, which might be uncomfortable for them.
Liu, who is also a PhD student, said he does not exclude any possibility of a career in China or any other country to teach Chinese. There is more opportunity to become a Chinese-language teacher in China with the increasing number of foreign nationals looking to study in a native speaker environment, he said, adding that he has not regretted studying in Beijing.
