China Daily / 2021-05 / 25 / Page011 Qatar pushes ahead with studies on Mandarin By JAN YUMUL in Hong Kong | China Daily | Updated: 2021-05-25 00:00 Qatar is showing sharply higher interest in studies of the Chinese language, literature and culture, offering a chance to boost ties between the two sides in the education sector at a time when China is expanding its economic engagement with the Middle East. With several schools in the Gulf nation launching Mandarin Chinese language programs and Beijing supporting efforts to improve cross-cultural communication and understanding, academic exchanges are set to a get a boost, observers said. Zhao Jian, Chinese coordinator at the Translation and Interpreting Institute, or TII, Language Center at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said a unique feature of Qatar-China relations is that the Chinese embassy in Qatar's capital city of Doha "has been very supportive and engaged" in education cooperation like textbook donations.