“The Little UN”Where the Official Language Is Chinese

Celebrated as the "Little UN," in 40 years the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) has trained some 60,000 international students from 167 countries. As the only international university in China teaching Chinese language and culture to foreign students, it has more foreign students than Chinese. Korean students have formed a Korean community in a district near the university, where they rent apartments and stage their own activities. There is a special Ten-thousand-country Wall inside the campus, on which are engraved the names of foreign students' countries. Even though the university is flooded with different peoples, languages and cultures, all speak Chinese as well as the natives. In the Little UN, Chinese is the official language.