April 20, 2021 was the twelfth UN Chinese Language Day. To mark this special day, a book launch ceremony for the Standard for Chinese Proficiency in International Chinese Language Education (hereinafter referred to as "the Standard") cum International Symposium was held at Beijing Language and Culture University.

Developed by the State Language Commission, the Standard was China’s first comprehensive compilation of criteria to assess the proficiency of learners of Chinese as a foreign language. The Standard was issued in March and will be implemented on July 1, 2021. 

Following the book launch, an international symposium was organized to hold panel discussions on several topics, including  development, application and interpretation of the Standard, building of a education system for Chinese language as a foreign language, Standard-based reform in proficiency tests, development of a multi-leveled database for Chinese learning resources, and alignment between the Standard and international language standards.

Attendees to the event included more than 50 representatives from the MOE’s Department of Language Information Management, the MOE’s Center for Language Education and Cooperation, Beijing Language and Culture University, and the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching. More than 450 experts, administrators and Chinese language teachers also attended this event via an online platform.