The beginnings of teaching Portuguese in China

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A novelty of the 21st century is the presence, in Portuguese universities, of numerous Chinese students, who undertake exchange periods here during their undergraduate or postgraduate studies. Many of them come to study Portuguese exclusively, as evidenced by, e.g., the high number of Chinese students on the master’s and doctoral courses of the Portuguese as a Foreign Language / Second Language Program, at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon, especially since the last decade. On the other hand, the growing number of Chinese universities offering undergraduate courses in Portuguese is news (56 in 2022). But the situation was not always like this.

According to an article by Li Changsen published in the Annals of the 1st International Forum on Portuguese Language Teaching in China (2012), between 1949, the date of establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the 1960s, mainland China had no translators or interpreters of Portuguese, nor institutions to teach the Portuguese language. As the PRC did not have diplomatic relations with Brazil and Portugal, it could not send students to these countries. To develop contacts with the communist parties (PC) in Brazil and Portugal and with other individuals or movements in Portuguese-speaking countries, the government used Spanish or English interpreters.

The first higher school in China to have a Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese Language and Culture was the Beijing Institute of Broadcasting (IRB), created in 1959, with the aim of training producers, announcers and social communication technicians. In the 1960s, ideological differences between the CPs of the Soviet Union and China deepened, so that the Chinese Government adopted an independent foreign policy; Furthermore, Mao Zedong formulated the “three worlds” theory, highlighting China’s support for the countries and peoples of the “Third World” who fought against imperialism and colonialism and fought for independence. The strengthening of political activity and ideological dissemination abroad by the PRC government required a large contingent of interpreters and translators, a gap that the “3000” talent plan aimed to fill. According to this Plan, higher education schools should prepare, within seven years, three thousand interpreters and translators of different foreign languages. In 1960, the Beijing Faculty of Foreign Languages was created, mainly with the main languages of Third World countries, including Portuguese. The IRB continued to train Portuguese-speaking staff, but the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) made the institution and many of its graduates fall into disgrace. The Portuguese course at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages, which began in 1961, was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, but resumed in 1973.

Still in the early 1960s, the PRC government recruited second-year students of other languages to study Portuguese in Macau, “behind closed doors”, in a building belonging to the state-owned company Nam Kwong, as the territory did not have, at the time, time, university. Three groups studied in Macau between 1960 and 1966. From the 1960-1962 group came the first Portuguese interpreters and translators in China. The 3rd group (1964-1966) was forced to return to Beijing in 1966, due to the Cultural Revolution, having worked for two years on a military farm; many were later recruited by the Foreign Office and some became ambassadors. A lot has happened in just over 60 years.

Article originally published in Diário de Notícias