Photo: Courtesy of Hongkou District Talent Work Bureau

In a classroom, a large screen displays a conversation in Chinese: in it, two people are adding each other on WeChat. Encouraged by the teacher, Pakistani Muhammad Ajmal, a postdoctoral researcher in mathematics at Shanghai University, stands up, unlocks his phone, and says in Putonghua to another participant seated behind him, “Hello, nice to meet you. May I add you on WeChat?”

This happened on Sunday, during a government-supported non-profit Chinese language class held in Shanghai’s Hongkou district. Targeting foreign talents working in Shanghai, this course is scheduled to continue with classes every Sunday until April 20.

Including Ajmal, over a dozen foreign professionals from universities, research institutions, and foreign-invested enterprises in Shanghai attended the first class on Sunday. There they learned to introduce themselves in a more authentic manner, and to get to know one another in Putonghua.

Ajmal has been in China since 2016 and already had a foundation in Putonghua. When he heard about this course, he signed up right away. “I know a lot of Chinese words, but I’m working on adding more natural, authentic vocabulary to improve my fluency,” he told the Global Times after class.

He explained that, previously he only knew the number “one” as “yi” in Putonghua, but thanks to this course, he learned the number’s informal pronunciation “yao” which is more commonly used in daily life.

Unlike some other language courses, this course focuses more on teaching participants practical and everyday language, as well as elements of Chinese culture and customs, according to the class teacher Zhang Yicheng, a Chinese language instructor at the Shanghai International Studies University.

“For example, about numbers, in this class I taught them the pronunciation, and in the next class, I will explain which numbers are generally favored or disliked by Chinese people,” Zhang told the Global Times.

For foreign participants, this class can serve as a small but vivid window to better understand China and Shanghai, and to connect more effectively with local people. Vietnamese participant HaiSam Mai, who has been working at an international school in Shanghai, believes she can still learn something new from this class, even though she has lived in Shanghai for 13 years.

“Today, for the first time, I learned a more polite way to add someone on WeChat, and the phrases were quite new to me. The topics we discussed in class were all very interesting,” Mai told the Global Times.

The one-month course consists of six classes in total, four of which focus on different topics including food, shopping, transportation, travel, hobbies, and sports. The remaining two are workshops, one dedicated to making herbal sachets and another to making Chinese-style jewelry, allowing participants to experience China’s intangible cultural heritage firsthand, said Zhang.

This Chinese language course is one of the latest initiatives by the Shanghai local government aimed at welcoming foreign talent and helping international professionals living in Shanghai better adapt to daily life, integrate into local culture, and stimulate interest in learning Chinese and understanding Chinese culture, the Global Times learned from the Hongkou District Talent Work Bureau, organizer of the course.