Every three days a Confucius institute was founded in a foreign country over the past year, which was out of the expectation of Xu Lin, senior official in charge of Chinese teaching overseas.

This tide for learning Chinese was initiated from the 1st International Conference on Chinese language held in Beijing in July, 2005, through which the Chinese government showed its interesting in popularizing Mandarin, China's official language, Xu recalled.

The first group of 25 Confucius institutes around the world were officially acknowledged by the government then, and the number has increased to 123 in 49 countries and regions.

Named after the famous ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius institutes replaced the nondescriptly-named Chinese Language Centers, trying to spread Chinese language and culture worldwide.

At Xu's office, the Office of Chinese Language Council International (OCLCI), applications for establishing Confucius institutes by foreign universities came in every day through letters and faxes.

"This move is to comply with the surging demand for Mandarin learning, as more and more people have realized the important role China has been playing in the world," Xu said.

China emerged as the world's fourth largest economy, contributing a yearly average of 13 percent to world economic growth over the past five years.

Statistics showed in 2003, 200 primary and middle schools in the United States given Chinese language lessons, and the figure tripled this year.

In 2005, nearly 30,000 took Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), a national-level test of Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers such as foreigners, overseas Chinese and students of Chinese ethnic minorities, while this year the figure doubled. HSK is eyed by many people as TOEFL in the United States for those who want to enter the country.

The Ministry of Education says 40 million people are learning Chinese the world over, but predicts the figure will hit 100 million by 2010. In China alone, the number of foreigners studying Mandarin has grown from 36,000 ten years ago to 110,000 this year.