The interaction of foreign languages and society: a review of Russian language education in China

Abstract

This article intends to contextualize Russian language education within the development of China-Russia relations, ranging over periods of friendly alliance, deteriorating confrontation, normalization, and strategic cooperative partnership. Moreover, by paralleling the situations of Russian language education with the corresponding periods mentioned above, the article tries to summarize and reflect on the relevant achievements and experiences, and to comprehensively sort out the development of Russian language education in China over the past seventy years. On this basis, it will further discuss how to adapt the Russian language education system to the call of the present time and the demand of the era, and how to further improve the quality of Russian students within higher education to better cater to the national development strategy, to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, and to enhance China’s cultural soft power.