Learning Chinese in Russian Federation Schools: Status and Trends

Abstract

This scientific article is devoted to the study of the Chinese language in schools of the Russian Federation, its status and trends. The relevance of the research topic is due, first, to the growth of the popularity of the Chinese language in the Russia among schoolchildren and students of higher educational institutions; secondly, by strengthening bilateral relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation in the context of «power transit» and restructuring of the international situation. The study is based on neo-liberalism, which views international relations as a non-anarchic structure with the primacy of international law, institutions and international trade. The main conclusion of the study is the characteristic of the history of the study of the Chinese language in Russia as cyclical. The practical interest of the Chinese language acquired only at the end of the 19th century and developed until the deterioration of relations between the USSR and the People’s Republic of China, when the orientation of the Chinese language in the Soviet Union changed from practical to scientific. Chinese is taught in schools in the Russian Federation on an equal footing with other foreign languages. The popularity of the Chinese language among schoolchildren is growing every year. Among the key problems of learning the Chinese language in Russian schools are the lack of teaching staff against the background of increased interest, the lack of teaching aids, the lack of native speakers, the concentration on learning Chinese at universities. The scientific novelty of the conducted research lies in the analysis of the history of the study of the Chinese language in Russia from the time of the reign of Peter I to the present day, the comparative analysis.