ABSTRACT
While the UK has a long history in Chinese language teaching (CLT), the development in the last two decades has been unprecedented both in terms of quantity and quality. In many ways, the UK is one of the leading countries in Europe and indeed in the world with regards to the development of CLT. All this has taken place against the background of China’s rise as a new economic powerhouse, the UK’s recognition of the Chinese as a strategic language economically for the country, and the coming of ‘the Golden Era’ of the bilateral relationships between the two countries. This chapter will first describe the overall development of CLT with both empirical and secondary data and the status quo of CLT in the British education sectors. It will then discuss and analyze some major factors that have contributed to these developments, and the opportunities and challenges have risen as the result of the rapid development and for the sustained growth of CLT in the future, including the recent Brexit. Finally, the chapter will attempt to delineate some potential trends for CLT in the UK in the time to come and suggest what may be needed so as to maintain and continue the momentum thus achieved and to establish CLT as an independent subject of study like TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages).
