Mandarin wave sweeps Indonesia's islands

Education expansion

Outside academia, Chinese language centers also abound in Indonesia. Apart from Bali and the capital city of Jakarta, these centers can also be found in other parts of Indonesia including the far-flung provinces of Aceh and Papua.

Chinese became an official language of the UN World Tourism Organization in 2021, and this has spurred the Indonesian government to promote Chinese language education through teacher training and cultural exchanges.

In support of this development, China has sent about 300 Mandarin teachers annually to Indonesia in recent years, including volunteer and professional teachers for schools and higher education institutions.

One of these universities is Esa Unggul University in Jakarta, which has collaborated with China's Nanjing Xiaozhuang University to run a four-year double-degree program in English and Mandarin education.

Ayu Larasati, head of the cooperation bureau at Esa Unggul, said that under the double-degree program, the university has worked closely with local industrial companies to improve the Mandarin and English proficiency of potential employees.

Larasati said such cooperation aligns with national education policy, which requires higher education institutions to conduct community service programs for students in addition to research and development.

Two of Indonesia's most prominent universities — the University of Indonesia and Gadjah Mada University — also offer bachelor's and diploma programs in Chinese language and literature.

In Bali, Udayana University and Ganesha University of Education offer Chinese language education programs in cooperation with the Confucius Institute.

Udayana University, Bali's leading public higher education institution, has established the Tourism Confucius Institute and partnered with China's Nanchang University and Xiamen University to teach Mandarin and run student exchange programs in Bali.

In East Java, the Beijing Institute PARE has gained popularity as one of the best Chinese language learning centers in Indonesia. It offers offline and online learning programs for elementary and secondary school students, university students and professionals.

The 8-year-old institute has placed its graduates with at least eight companies, mostly mining firms based on the island of Sulawesi, many of which are owned by Chinese investors.

"Some of our laoshi (teachers) come from China, but the majority of our instructors are locals with HSK (qualification) certificates," Aditya Ranggadani, head of the Beijing Institute Pare, told China Daily. HSK, or Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, is the standardized international Mandarin proficiency test for nonnative speakers.

Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, secretary-general of United Cities and Local Governments in Asia-Pacific, or UCLG ASPAC, said the growing interest in Chinese language learning in Indonesia is "a response to a global reality."

"China is playing an increasingly significant role across various fields, from the economy and trade to technology and innovation," Tjandradewi told China Daily.

She said the government's support for Chinese language education in Indonesia is a strategic move that aligns with the needs of today's globally connected world.

Tjandradewi, who speaks basic Mandarin, appreciates the contributions and active involvement of China's cities and provinces in UCLG ASPAC programs.

UCLG ASPAC works with the Xi'an Municipal People's Government and Xi'an Jiaotong University to provide Mandarin training for government workers across the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia. Since 2022, 613 people have participated in the program, according to UCLG ASPAC.

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, director of the China-Indonesia Desk at the Center of Economic and Law Studies, or CELIOS, acknowledged the government's support for the development of Mandarin language education in the country but suggested it be more evenly distributed.

"The expansion of Mandarin courses to Papua and other remote provinces is a positive sign of the democratization of foreign language learning in Indonesia," Rakhmat said.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong contributed to this story.

Leonardus Jegho is a freelance journalist for China Daily.