"At that time, we often said that a foreign language was a barometer of politics and diplomacy. If the relationship between the two countries is good, the language will be hot, and if it is not good, the language will be cold. " Liu Limin, chairman of China Russian Teaching Research Association, told the reporter.
The upsurge of learning Russian for all people in China lasted for several years in the middle of last century. In the 1960s, with the tension between China and the Soviet Union, the temperature dropped. Under the influence of political factors, a large number of Russian cadres were forced to give up their majors and jump ship. In the following 20 years, learning Russian fell into a low tide in China.
At the end of 1978, the reform and opening up abandoned ultra-left mistakes and set off a climax of learning from the west, mainly the United States and Europe. In the past, because of the bad relationship between China and the Soviet Union, all Russian courses offered by the school were changed to teaching English. However, after 20 years of left leaning, English talents in China are almost scarce. In order to catch up with the United States and surpass Britain, they began to learn English in an all-round way from middle school.
In the late 1980s, Sino-Soviet relations were normalized. In the 1990s, the border trade between China and Russia and other CIS countries developed rapidly, and the cooperation in the political and economic fields continued to expand, which made the demand for Russian talents in China increase rapidly, and Russian teaching in China began to go out of the trough.
Russian, as one of more than a dozen foreign languages taught in various schools in China, has lost its original political aura and is looking for its proper position.
Professor Qian Xiaohui, director of the Russian Department of the School of Foreign Languages of Renmin University of China, said: "Considering the long border and active economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia, it is necessary to train and reserve Russian talents in Russia. In short, talents should be chosen by the market. " At present, some universities in China are trying to carry out teaching reform, such as offering relevant political and economic courses for Russian majors and strengthening English teaching, so as to improve the employment rate of graduates and meet social needs.
At present, nearly 60 universities in China offer Russian majors, with about 7,000-8,000 students. National Russian language centers have been established in Beijing, Shanghai and Heilongjiang Province.