I am very pleased that both Thai language schools and international schools in China are providing Chinese education. Once I heard a group of children discussing pinyin in a restaurant, which was really surprising. When purchasing stationery, I also saw notebooks and small notebooks specifically designed for practicing pinyin, which shows the popularity of Chinese learning in the local area. In international schools, although many students have Chinese ancestry, most of them do not speak Chinese and can only count up to ten. In the middle school stage, some schools offer Chinese elective courses, but the proportion of students who choose Chinese is very small, only 10-20%. In contrast, Malaysia has about 21% of Chinese people, so Chinese is quite popular in the country. Chinese is a compulsory content in basic education, from elementary schools to middle schools where Chinese is the only language. In terms of teaching quality, especially in mathematics, Malaysia's education level is quite excellent, and many Malays are willing to send their children to Chinese language schools. I know a Malaysian Chinese host family, whose grandson is studying at a Chinese language school in Malaysia and successfully transferred to the United States.
Chinese Singaporeans make up three-quarters of the total population, but education in the country is not primarily conducted in Chinese. At O-level and A-level, Chinese is a compulsory course, with a slightly lower level of difficulty compared to the college entrance examination and comparable to Hong Kong. Including government universities, the teaching language is English and they excel in internationalization. I once heard a Malaysian Chinese working at Grofond Semiconductor in Singapore say that they use English at work, but more Chinese in private communication.
Cambodia has a long history of Chinese education, but during the Khmer Rouge era, Chinese education was completely closed because Chinese people in Cambodia mainly engaged in commercial activities and were accused of being exploitative classes and big capitalists. This has led to a large number of Chinese fleeing Cambodia. At present, Chinese language education is gradually recovering. I once met a Chinese native of Cambodia who was very fluent in Chinese. Ask him where he studied and he told me that he graduated from Duanhua School. I went back to check and found that this is a very interesting case of a Chinese language school, and many successful Cambodian celebrities also attended this school.
Filipino Chinese are relatively few, mainly concentrated in large cities such as Manila. I remember there is a very famous Chinese international school in Manila, and many local Chinese businessmen send their children to this school.
Similar to Indonesia and Cambodia, Chinese people often face anti Chinese situations, and Chinese education has long been restricted. However, as China's influence in Southeast Asia increases, the development speed of Chinese language schools is accelerating. The younger generation of Chinese have relatively weaker Chinese language abilities, while the older generation, due to long-term restrictions imposed by the Indonesian government, have a minority of people who can communicate fluently.
Myanmar is similar to Thailand a few decades ago, where there are many Burmese people with Chinese ancestry, most of whom do not speak Chinese. Compared to before, Chinese education has experienced a significant decline. But as Myanmar gradually opens up and China's influence increases, I believe there will be a qualitative leap in Myanmar's Chinese education. I have relatively little understanding of Laos because its population base is small and the proportion of Chinese people is also relatively low.
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