China has become Asia’s most popular destination for overseas students, said Li Hai, deputy director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of China’s Ministry of Education, at a press conference on Sept. 28.

9月28日，教育部國際合作與交流司副司長李海在教育部發布會上稱，我國已經成為亞洲最大留學目的國。

According to Li, China has stepped onto a new stage of two-way student exchanges. A total of 545,000 Chinese students studied overseas in 2016, while 443,000 international students came to China, up 36.2% and 35.1%, respectively.

據李海介紹，中國的雙向留學工作邁上了新臺階。2016年出國留學人員達54.5萬人，來華留學人員44.3萬人，分別增長了36.2%、35.1%。

In addition, the country saw 433,000 overseas returnees in the last year, and they have become a major force that promotes China’s education, economy, and culture.

此外，去年有43.3萬留學人員回國，他們已成為我國教育、經濟、文化等領域的重要生力軍。

By the end of 2016, China established cooperative partnerships with 188 countries and regions, and signed agreements of mutual recognition of degrees with 47 countries and regions.

截至2016年底，我國與188個國家和地區建立了教育合作關系，與47個國家和地區簽署了學歷學位互認協議。

The country has also built high-level cultural exchange mechanisms with Russia, the U.S., the U.K., the European Union, France, Indonesia, South Africa, and Germany. Cultural communication is now one of the three major diplomatic pillars, together with political mutual trust and economic cooperation.

我國已先后與俄羅斯、美國、英國、歐盟、法國、印度尼西亞、南非、德國建立起高級別人文交流機制。人文交流已與政治互信、經貿合作一道成為我國外交的三大支柱。

Li introduced that China established 512 Confucius Institutes in 140 countries and regions by the first half of 2017, offering courses to 2.1 million students.

他還介紹說，截至2017年6月，我國已在全球140個國家和地區建立了512所孔子學院。

Now, more than 170 countries offer Chinese courses, 67 of which have incorporated Chinese into their national education systems. The number of non-native Chinese learners has reached 100 million worldwide.

現在，有170多個國家開設漢語課程，其中67個國家將漢語教學納入國民教育體系，全球學習使用漢語的人數達到1億人。