Over 4,000 young, foreign-born Chinese people from 55 countries today assembled here for a five-day event where they will seek to learn more about their ethnicity and culture.
The youngsters are participating in the five-day "root-seeking summer camp" which has been convened by the Chinese government.
"Chinese (Mandarin) has become the second-most used language in the world and the office will invest more to support Chinese language education," said Qiu Yuanping, head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of central cabinet at a ceremony held to welcome the Chinese-origin youngsters who were born overseas and are visiting Beijing to get in touch with their roots.
Qiu said there are 50 million overseas Chinese spread over 170 countries and regions, adding that it is they who have helped to establish Chinese language schools and carried Chinese culture forward, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
There are nearly 20,000 Chinese language schools across the world with over 100,000 teachers, educating millions of students, he said.
The government has regularly organised similar camps to help young overseas Chinese become more familiar with their ethnicity.
Nearly 30,000 young people from around the world participate in the camps each year, Xinhua reported.
