1. Introduction

China has had relations with foreign states for at least 2,000 years; the Qín and Hàn Dynasties (221 BCE–220 CE) developed international exchanges along the Silk Road. The earliest documented case of foreign language teaching, however, was at a Persian language institution, Huíhui Guózǐxué 回回國子學, set up in 1289 to train translators (Fù 1986:7–8). Foreign language teaching developed furth…