Britain | Learning languages
Why studying Chinese is in decline
Mandarin is out of fashion
“I LOVE CHINA,” declared Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, in 2013, exhorting British children, his own included, to study Mandarin. Seven years on, he is a lot less keen on China, and the vogue for studying Mandarin seems to be fading.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Flying dragon, passing fashion”
Britain August 29th 2020
- Generation rent grows up
- Why studying Chinese is in decline
- Keir Starmer, middle-class hero
- Britons never, never, never shall be free of the culture wars
- The worst is yet to come for Britain’s food-and-drink industry
- Reading, especially of the classics, is booming
- Bringing down the cost of school uniforms
- Whatever the question, the answer is Germany
From the August 29th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Britain
Britain’s brokers are diversifying and becoming less British
London’s depleted stockmarket is forcing them to change
What a buzzy startup reveals about Britain’s biotech sector
Lots of clever scientists, not enough business nous
Britain’s government lacks a clear Europe policy
It should be more ambitious over getting closer to the EU
The Rachel Reeves theory of growth
The chancellor says it’s her number-one priority. We ask her what that means for Britain