China is ready to open itself wider to foreigners who are interested in studying in China. A comprehensive document encouraging more foreign students to study in the nation, which the Chinese government released on Tuesday in Beijing, is a case in point.

The government hopes to have 500,000 foreign students in China by 2020. The increase is aggressive given that only 20 years ago less than 8,000 foreigners studied in China.

China's rise as the fastest-growing destination for foreign students shows the country's rapid expansion of higher education. China has spent billions of dollars to expand and transform its higher educational facilities into world-class institutions.

The number of foreign students seeking higher education in China has never been greater. The nation's vitality, as one of the world's economic powerhouses, attracts foreign students, a real measure of the impact of globalization.

The building spree in China is helping fuel student visits by foreigners, who are drawn by the better facilities now available and by the prospect of gaining expertise in the world's fastest growing economy.

Jobs are an important consideration for foreign students heading to China as a job market. Thirty years ago only those interested in Chinese literature would study Chinese language. Now all professions sign up.

For Chinese people, the influx of foreign students reminds us of an important period in China's history.

China's Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) was a culture magnet. People came to learn all that the great civilization could offer. They included students and merchants, envoys and clerics.

Most of the foreigners who came to China during the Tang Dynasty were Turks, Tocharians, Sogdians and Jews in the north and west, and the Chams, Khmers, Javanese and Singhalese in the south. Arabs, Persians and Indians were also frequent visitors. The government of the Tang Dynasty set up special offices to watch over their interests.

Nowadays the inflow of foreign students into China - a record high of 240,000 from 190 countries and regions last year- is increasing. Foreigners seek to cash in on the nation's booming economy by becoming proficient in the Chinese language. The feeling that understanding the language will be an asset in the job market is believed to be driving much of the interest.

The steady growth in enrollment of foreign students in China is largely pushed by China's phenomenal growth, but also reflects the nation's place as a cultural and historic center of Asia. Many students are coming to China to study programs beyond Chinese language such as Chinese arts, history, medicine and agricultural sciences.

The quick growth of the nation's higher education does not necessarily translate into top-class education. This is one reason why a large number of Chinese students enroll abroad.

After all, the quality of education China offers is important. It needs to turn its plans into bricks and mortar.

(China Daily 09/29/2010 page8)