By Iris Lo and Joan Tsang
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 17, August 24 - September 6, 2007
In a secluded schoolyard tucked deep in a downtown neighborhood a group of children is vigorously chanting "ren zhi chu, xing ben shan" - a three-word rhyme written by Confucius. It's a charming, wise and well-known verse that translates into "All people are kind when they are born."
This is Duanhua School, an institution steeped in history and founded in Phnom Penh during the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) in the 1880s. Today, with enrollment booming and more than 15,000 students Duanhua is the largest Chinese-language institute outside mainland China. It recently opened an extension campus near Olympic Stadium.
"China is developing rapidly and a lot of investments here involve Chinese. Parents want their children to have an easier time finding a job," said Duanhua Principal Li Huiming.
Sino-Khmer relations date to the third century BC, according to the Historical Dictionary of Cambodia. A large immigrant community was well established by the 13th century, with most settlers coming from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Perhaps because of the origin of these emigres, Duanhua taught the Chinese dialect of Teochiu until the 1940s when the school began teaching Mandarin. Teochiu is the native language of Guangdong, and the most widely spoken dialect in China.
Duanhua was shuttered after the Lon Nol coup on March 18, 1970. Later, the Khmer Rouge burned all the school's records that had been kept since the 19th century.
The school reopened in September 1992, and is now owned by the Association of Chinese Nationals in Cambodia (ACNC).
"The demand for Chinese speakers is very high right now, especially in the garment and hospitality industries," said Gao Feng, senior secretary at the China, Hong Kong and Macau Business Association. "There are more Chinese tourists every year and of the 400 garment factories, about 70 percent are owned by Chinese investors. Bosses want there employees to communicate with workers."
Feng estimates there are some 70 Chinese language schools in Cambodia and more than 35,000 students. Figures for the number of ethnic Chinese in Cambodia vary: an official with XinHua news bureau in Phnom Penh put the number at about 70,000, but the Taiwan's Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission claimed as many as 343,855. A 1995 Ministry of Interior report claimed only 47,180.
Cultural inheritance
Huang Yulan, general director of Duanhua School, said Chinese put high importance on their roots and hold a strong sense of nationalism. Yulan, who graduated from Duanhua in 1964, said it is important to transmit their culture to future generations.
"The Association of Chinese Nationals in Cambodia and Guangdong Jinan University assist us in designing our textbooks. We also use textbooks from other countries, like Chinese textbooks from Malaysia," Li said.
A well-known Confucius saying advocates teaching without discrimination. Huang said Duanhua puts the directive into practice.
"We are willing to teach anyone who is interested in learning Chinese. You can see there are some older kids who are in the same class with the younger ones, because we divide classes according to their Chinese language level instead of their age. So we allow the students to skip a grade if they perform well," she said.
All subjects, from mathematics and geography to history, are taught in Chinese. But students also learn Khmer.
A normal school day is split into two parts, with Khmer in the morning and then Chinese in the afternoon. Duanhua students attend 23 lessons from Monday to Saturday.
"We claim our school as a public school because we received funds and donations from other Chinese organizations such as Association of Chinese Teochiu in Cambodia. But we haven't been subsidized by the government and we simply rely highly on school fees and donations," Li said.
Tuition runs from $30 to $50 per term from first grade to junior secondary. Vocational training, a two-year course for students who have finished junior secondary school, is $80 per term. For senior secondary school, students can transfer to another school.
"Since there isn't any university in Cambodia offering Chinese language course, if the students want to keep on learning Chinese, they may have to go to countries like Singapore or China to pursue their studies," Li said. One problem is finding qualified Chinese teachers, Li said. Duanhua has more than 240 teachers who are either Chinese -Khmer or Chinese from mainland China.
"Being a teacher in China is a very low paid job, so a lot of people come here to find jobs. For Duanhua, the salary of a primary school teacher is $200 per month and for the secondary ones is $260 per month, which is much higher than those who teach in a Cambodian school with only $20 to $30 a month," Li said.
"We don't have money to hire teachers of the highest quality. Most of the good and experienced teachers are either retired or passed away and many new teachers that we employed have never received any professional teaching training," he said.
This is Duanhua School, an institution steeped in history and founded in Phnom Penh during the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) in the 1880s. Today, with enrollment booming and more than 15,000 students Duanhua is the largest Chinese-language institute outside mainland China. It recently opened an extension campus near Olympic Stadium.
"China is developing rapidly and a lot of investments here involve Chinese. Parents want their children to have an easier time finding a job," said Duanhua Principal Li Huiming.
Sino-Khmer relations date to the third century BC, according to the Historical Dictionary of Cambodia. A large immigrant community was well established by the 13th century, with most settlers coming from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Perhaps because of the origin of these emigres, Duanhua taught the Chinese dialect of Teochiu until the 1940s when the school began teaching Mandarin. Teochiu is the native language of Guangdong, and the most widely spoken dialect in China.
Duanhua was shuttered after the Lon Nol coup on March 18, 1970. Later, the Khmer Rouge burned all the school's records that had been kept since the 19th century.
The school reopened in September 1992, and is now owned by the Association of Chinese Nationals in Cambodia (ACNC).
"The demand for Chinese speakers is very high right now, especially in the garment and hospitality industries," said Gao Feng, senior secretary at the China, Hong Kong and Macau Business Association. "There are more Chinese tourists every year and of the 400 garment factories, about 70 percent are owned by Chinese investors. Bosses want there employees to communicate with workers."
Feng estimates there are some 70 Chinese language schools in Cambodia and more than 35,000 students. Figures for the number of ethnic Chinese in Cambodia vary: an official with XinHua news bureau in Phnom Penh put the number at about 70,000, but the Taiwan's Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission claimed as many as 343,855. A 1995 Ministry of Interior report claimed only 47,180.
Cultural inheritance
Huang Yulan, general director of Duanhua School, said Chinese put high importance on their roots and hold a strong sense of nationalism. Yulan, who graduated from Duanhua in 1964, said it is important to transmit their culture to future generations.
"The Association of Chinese Nationals in Cambodia and Guangdong Jinan University assist us in designing our textbooks. We also use textbooks from other countries, like Chinese textbooks from Malaysia," Li said.
A well-known Confucius saying advocates teaching without discrimination. Huang said Duanhua puts the directive into practice.
"We are willing to teach anyone who is interested in learning Chinese. You can see there are some older kids who are in the same class with the younger ones, because we divide classes according to their Chinese language level instead of their age. So we allow the students to skip a grade if they perform well," she said.
All subjects, from mathematics and geography to history, are taught in Chinese. But students also learn Khmer.
A normal school day is split into two parts, with Khmer in the morning and then Chinese in the afternoon. Duanhua students attend 23 lessons from Monday to Saturday.
"We claim our school as a public school because we received funds and donations from other Chinese organizations such as Association of Chinese Teochiu in Cambodia. But we haven't been subsidized by the government and we simply rely highly on school fees and donations," Li said.
Tuition runs from $30 to $50 per term from first grade to junior secondary. Vocational training, a two-year course for students who have finished junior secondary school, is $80 per term. For senior secondary school, students can transfer to another school.
"Since there isn't any university in Cambodia offering Chinese language course, if the students want to keep on learning Chinese, they may have to go to countries like Singapore or China to pursue their studies," Li said. One problem is finding qualified Chinese teachers, Li said. Duanhua has more than 240 teachers who are either Chinese -Khmer or Chinese from mainland China.
"Being a teacher in China is a very low paid job, so a lot of people come here to find jobs. For Duanhua, the salary of a primary school teacher is $200 per month and for the secondary ones is $260 per month, which is much higher than those who teach in a Cambodian school with only $20 to $30 a month," Li said.
"We don't have money to hire teachers of the highest quality. Most of the good and experienced teachers are either retired or passed away and many new teachers that we employed have never received any professional teaching training," he said.
