Students from Hung Vuong University in Vietnam and China's Yunnan province show off their work in a calligraphy contest. Vietnam had been using Chinese characters for a long time. Now it is a popular foreign language in Vietnam. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In a temple abbot's practice room, tablets are written in Chinese. Mandarin is still an important language to know to understand Vietnam's traditional culture. [Photo by Wang Jian/China Daily]

Students majoring in Chinese in Hanoi University show Peking opera masks made by themselves, Nov 20, 2014. [Photo by Wang Jian/China Daily]

The photo shows a Chinese language center in Hanoi. Nowadays, not only many universities in Vietnam have departments of Chinese language, there are also many privately owned mandarin centers. [Photo by Wang Jian/China Daily]

A disciple prays in a temple in Vietnam. A tablet written with Chinese characters "Mu Yi Tian Xia (a motherly model of the nation)" can be seen. [Photo by Wang Jian/China Daily]