Sandeep Biswas is in love with the language and culture of China.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Cheena Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan is the first Chinese institute in India established in 1937 by the joint effort of Rabindranath Tagore and Tan Yunshan. The institute was established to enhance Sino-India Cultural exchanges.

Initially researchers from China used to flock to Cheena Bhavana to carry out their research. The huge research material available in Cheena Bhavana library today is considered to be one of the best collection antic books in India. Later on Chinese language was also introduced as part of learning for the India researcher. Thus the learning of Chinese language started in Cheena Bhavana.

In the beginning, as people were unaware of taking Chinese language as career option, very few students were reported to be registered in the course. But with rise of China as global power, Chinese language became a hot cake to attract students from all over India. Now there are almost ten universities in India where Chinese language is being taught and most of the universities are established in 21st century. In an average, every institute has more than 100 students.

Apart from the students, the tourism industry of India is also encouraging their employees to learn Chinese language. India is one of the favorite tourist destinations for Chinese people. Every year during the “spring festival” vacation, flock of Chinese tourist visit India. Chinese people mostly being monolingual face the language problem in India. Therefore tour guides specialized in Chinese Language is in demand.