According to China Daily, the official English language newspaper in China, China is expecting a record number of students to enroll in its universities this year as foreigners seek to cash in on the country's booming economy by becoming proficient in Mandarin. Of the anticipated 86,000 foreign students, an overwhelming number will come from Asian countries with close economic, trade and cultural ties with Beijing.

Yet the government hopes to have 120,000 foreign students in China by the time Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympics, with the bulk of these based in the capital, Chen said. The increase is aggressive given that only 20 years ago less than 8,000 foreigners studied in China. The feeling that understanding the Chinese language will be an asset in the job market is believed to be driving much of the interest.

"In Indonesia, there are a lot of Chinese, so if you can speak Chinese then it is easier to get a job," said Prawibo Yohan Daniswara, an ethnic Chinese student from Indonesia studying at Beijing Languages University.