Sweden, meet China.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-04/11/content_12303225.htm

There is a theory that countries study the culture of their rising threat, and some people believe this is the reason interest in the Chinese language and Chinese culture is spiking in the United States. Personally, I don’t know many people in the Austin College Chinese program who are preparing for a future apocalyptic battle, but we may be the exceptions. Regardless, it looks like Swedish decided to jump onto the bandwagon because according to Professor Thorbjorn Loden Chinese is becoming increasingly popular in Swedish middle schools and universities. In fact Stockholm recently played host to the “Chinese Bridge” language competition where 51 students from across the country went head to head on April 10th before Aasa Wretman emerged as the winner. Chinese Ambassador to Sweden, Lan Caijun, encourages students to partake in this event that involves presenting a speech and cultural performance because “it opens good opportunity for your future if you can speak Chinese as Chinese economy is developing rapidly.” The economy may be developing rapidly, but lets hope the materialism isn’t equally as contagious as the language.