Elham Sadat Mirzania is a Chinese language lecturer at Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran, Iran. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The oldest Chinese language department belongs to Shahid Beheshti University, where I first started to learn Chinese. In those days, Chinese language was a very new and unknown major in Iran, but gradually it has become a popular major and every year there are some new students who wish to pursue their studies in this field.

Formally in Iran there are four universities which have established Chinese departments. At Tehran University, Chinese language is being taught as a second language in faculty of Foreign Languages. The Confucius Center has been established among the faculty of foreign languages of Tehran University in 2009 as the first and only Confucius Center in Iran.

Chinese is also is a popular subject at language institutes for learners. There are an increasing number of people who are mainly doing business with China and are willing to conquer the difficulties of learning the Chinese language to be able to connect to Chinese producers directly and obtain a better profit.