|
KUNMING, March 23-- Despite learning Tamil for just one month, Yang Yuchao has been attracted by its beautiful script and pronunciation. With a history of more than 2,000 years, the Tamil language is spoken in countries including India and Sri Lanka. "It has 247 letters, about ten times that of English. It's difficult to learn but very charming," said Yang, a member of the Bai ethnic group. Interested in languages, he chose Tamil as his major in Yunnan Minzu University (YMU) last year and spent the first half of semester studying the history and culture of South Asian countries. Besides Tamil, the School of South Asia where Yang studies also teaches another six languages including Hindi, Urdu, Nepali and Bengali. The courses are to cater to the growing demand for learning languages as China pushes ahead the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Fang Zhen, dean of the school. The initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes to seek common development and prosperity. "China has been actively expanding economic, trade, education and cultural exchanges with India, Pakistan, and other south Asian countries," Fang said. Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, held the South and Southeast Asia Commodity Expo and Investment Fair last year, with more than 500 billion yuan (79 billion U.S. dollars) in deals signed. | 
