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(Source: dict.cn)

A new outdoor rock music festival, the Strawberry Music Festival, will open in Beijing over the upcoming the Labor Day holiday weekend. Altogether, 60 international and domestic bands and performers will present live shows on three stages.

The festival lineup will be announced soon.

The city has held the Modern Sky Music Festival every fall since 2007, so the Strawberry in the spring is exactly what music fans have been wanting.

Starting this year, the Modern Sky Music Festival coupled with the Strawberry will be two of the foremost music festivals, besides the established outdoor Midi music festival, currently China’s largest.

Compared with the chaotic Modern Sky, the Strawberry will be fun and fresh, said a source on the festival’s organizing committee.

The festival will run from May 1-3 in the city’s suburban Tongzhou Carnal Park. With its vast water area, the park will be an ideal venue in which to play water games, bask in the warm sun and enjoy the music.

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)

PARIS, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) — The study of Chinese has become increasingly popular in France, says a French sinologist.

More and more middle schools and universities in France have begun to offer Chinese classes, Joel Bellassen said during a recent talk with Kong Quan, the Chinese ambassador to France.

Among the 30 school districts across France, 27 now offer Chinese classes, including some in the remote areas, said Bellassen, the Chinese learning inspector in the Education Ministry.

About 25,600 middle school students were registered to study Chinese in September, a large increase from the less than 5,000 students 10 years ago, Bellassen said.

There now are 44,000 school students learning Chinese in France, including 16,000 university students and about 2,000 primary school students, Bellassen said.

In addition, the number of Chinese teachers in France has grown to 430, up from less than 30 in the 1980s when the French Teachers of Chinese Association was established, he said.

In Bellassen’s view, the support of China’s government is an important reason for the promotion of Chinese language studies in France.

Kong said that China has made vigorous efforts in recent years to promote Chinese language learning in France, including dispatching teachers to the country, offering text books to educational organizations, and promoting Chinese language tests such as the HSK and BCT.

(Source: xinhuanet.com)