[Vlog] Learning Mandarin Chinese - Level 1 (HSK01)

What started with HSK Level 1 in Liège, followed by online courses with the Confucius Institute in Cairo, quickly became something deeper. Learning Chinese now allows me to follow WeChat groups in architecture, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and urban engineering, giving me direct access to technical discussions, project calls, and research debates that never appear in English. It also allows me to attend meetings in China with greater autonomy and to navigate daily life without constant mediation or translation.

This personal experience reflects something much larger.

🌍 Strategic linguistic pluralism Investing in Chinese recognizes that global knowledge systems are multilingual and multipolar. English remains essential, but it is no longer sufficient on its own.

🏛️ Academic engagement, not isolation Understanding a civilization, a scientific system, and an innovation ecosystem happens through engagement. Language is the first and most decisive layer of that engagement.

🧠 Knowledge sovereignty Learning Chinese builds internal capacity to understand China directly, without relying on Anglo-American filters or second-hand interpretations.

🔓 Intellectual openness and academic courage Curiosity is not a security threat. Refusing linguistic engagement leads to intellectual provincialism and weakens knowledge production.

📌 In one sentence Investing in Chinese language and scholarship is an act of strategic autonomy. It replaces fear-based disengagement with knowledge-based engagement.

📊 The factual contrast is striking Globally, Chinese language education is expanding rapidly, with nearly 500 Confucius Institutes and over 750 Confucius Classrooms active in about 160 countries, more than 30 million learners worldwide, and annual HSK participation exceeding 700,000 candidates. This momentum is reinforced by HSK 3.0, now structured into three stages and nine levels with a stronger focus on real-world communication, oral skills, and contemporary Chinese usage.

In contrast, Belgian universities such as VUB, ULiège, and UGent withdrew between 2020 and 2023 by closing or letting Confucius Institute partnerships expire, following security signaling and administrative decisions rather than transparent, evidence-based academic assessments, and without publicly documented court convictions or proven teaching-related misconduct. Instead of asserting academic sovereignty through regulation, oversight, and host control, Belgium chose cancellation, resulting in a self-inflicted loss of Mandarin teaching capacity, China literacy, and long-term academic leverage.

China is shaping the future of cities, infrastructure, energy systems, and climate adaptation. If we want to understand that future seriously, learning the language is not optional.

🎥 I share my personal learning journey here: Learn Chinese Mandarin – Level 1 (HSK01) 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Q7Hhx460c

My advice to researchers, engineers, and academics is simple: start now. Even HSK1 already changes what you can see, read, and access.

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