An Academic Outline of Studies of International Chinese Language

In pace with the significant changes of domestic and global cultural environments, the objective and subjective conditions for Chinese language studies have been largely different from those before. The former designations of "teaching Chinese as a foreign language" and "teaching of Chinese as a second language" used for years are more and more inadequate for the current requirements of the development of the corresponding domain and to meet the cultural expectation of the society. International Chinese education, another designation which is becoming more and more widely used in recent years is still insufficient for an ideal definition to the domain and not provided with enough academic basis to name a discipline. In this paper, the author tries to make the point of view that using "studies of international Chinese language" to replace the existing various confusing designations, and to describe its knowledge genealogy and curriculum structure, expecting a contribution to the disciplinary and scientific development of this domain, which lead to a future of forming a veritable academic realm of humanities which is integrated and open, to the cultivation of professionals in international Chinese language and to the global diffusion of Chinese culture.