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Russia's Asia pivot spurs boom in Chinese classes

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Marina Lapenkova, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Photo by Timothée Gidenne on Unsplash" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/03/20/china.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Photo by Timothée Gidenne on Unsplash</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MOSCOW, Russia - Every Sunday, Chinese tutor Kirill Burobin begins work in the early morning and is kept busy until midnight.</p><p>As Russia seeks to tighten ties with China amid Moscow&#x27;s military campaign in Ukraine, the number of Burobin&#x27;s students has tripled over the past year.</p><p>&quot;Sunday is the busiest,&quot; 20-year-old Burobin, who makes a good living with his online lessons, told AFP.</p><p>&quot;I have 16 hours of classes virtually without a break.&quot; </p><p>The boom in demand for Chinese lessons in Russia illustrates the country&#x27;s pivot towards Asia as tensions build between Moscow and the West.</p><p>Chinese President Xi Jinping&#x27;s three-day visit to Russia beginning Monday aims to deepen what the two countries have called a &quot;no-limits&quot; relationship, which is increasingly important for Russia as its international isolation deepens.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/20/23/chinas-xi-heads-to-russia-in-visit-for-peace">China&#x27;s Xi heads to Russia in visit for &#x27;peace&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>Pummelled by multiple rounds of Western sanctions, Russia&#x27;s economic and technological development is becoming more dependent on China. </p><p>Natalia Danina, a manager at HeadHunter, the country&#x27;s top online recruitment company, said that last year there were nearly 11,000 vacancies requiring knowledge of the Chinese language, a 44 percent increase compared to 2021.</p><p>Over the same period, the number of jobs for Chinese speakers in Russia has doubled in sales, transport and logistics, said Danina, pointing to an &quot;accelerated transition&quot; to Chinese-made equipment and spare parts. </p><p>Demand for Chinese speakers in energy jobs has tripled, she added.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Just the start&#x27;</strong></div><p>Burobin, who also studies Eastern civilisations at a top Moscow university, said that he was happy to help his students learn more about &quot;a whole new world&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Russians are taking up Chinese because Beijing has become our main partner for decades to come,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;And this is just the beginning.&quot;</p><p>In August, Avito, Russia&#x27;s leading online classified ads platform, reported a 138 percent increase in requests for Chinese lessons in Moscow in one year. </p><p>The same figure stood at 350 percent for the far eastern city of Vladivostok. </p><p>The popularity of Chinese classes might be starting to catch up with demand for English lessons in the country. </p><p>Alina Khamlova, 26, who teaches both languages, said she had only three English language students this year, compared to 12 who are learning Chinese. </p><p>One of her students is Maria, a 22-year-old designer who dreams of travelling to China to make her clothes there because it is &quot;cheaper than in Russia&quot;. </p><p>Another student is a 25-year-old gym coach, Ivan, who wants to work in China because Europeans &quot;are paid very well&quot; there.</p><p>Khamlova also said that many young people in Russia hope to study in Chinese universities now that many European establishments had become &quot;inaccessible to them&quot;. </p><p>While English still retains a dominant position, the number of high school students who chose Chinese as a foreign language during their final school exams has doubled in one year to 17,000, according to the state education watchdog Rosobrnadzor.</p><div><strong>&#x27;No one will defeat us&#x27;</strong></div><p>Russia&#x27;s growing isolation from the West has prompted many language schools to revise their curricula and invite teachers of the Chinese language.</p><p>Founded in 2017, the ChineseFirst language centre has seen twice as many registrations this year, said its co-founders, Wang Yinyu, 38, and his Russian wife Natalia, a 33-year-old Chinese speaker.</p><p>Wang&#x27;s family business is booming, and he is planning to open two new branches and a kindergarten in Moscow.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/05/07/22/to-combat-stereotype-chinas-students-learn-how-to-cook">Chinese students to learn how to cook, clean and raise pets to combat stereotype</a></li></ul><p>In Russia, &quot;many companies have rushed to Chinese factories to order goods that have become unavailable in Russia due to sanctions,&quot; he told AFP in Russian.</p><p>And Chinese entrepreneurs, who are interested in exporting to Russia, are looking for bilingual employees. </p><p>Wang is glad that China and Russia are becoming closer.</p><p>&quot;China has powerful industry and Russia is rich in resources, which means that our two countries can build their own internal economy,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;If we stand back-to-back, no one will defeat us.&quot;</p><div><strong>ml/bur/imm/dhc</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2j4K_JlqrfQ?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

More Russians are taking Chinese classes as Russia seeks to tighten ties with China amid Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

Russia's Asia pivot spurs boom in Chinese classes

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Russia's Asia pivot spurs boom in Chinese classes

Marina Lapenkova,

Agence France-Presse

Published March 20, 2023 07:30 AM PHT

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