KUNMING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- When Ling Zuo applied to a Myanmar language undergraduate program at Yunnan Minzu University in 2003, most of his high school teachers and classmates were quite surprised.
"I chose the Myanmar language because I was interested in the country and saw great potential in China-Myanmar cooperation," the now 38-year-old Ling, a Myanmar language teacher at a university in southwest China's Yunnan Province, recalled.
Ling said during the first year of his undergraduate program, many of his 27 classmates considered changing their major. "But to the surprise of those who stayed, most of them found jobs related to their major without difficulty when they graduated," he said.
The Myanmar language has become an increasingly popular choice among Chinese high school graduates in recent years, as the ever-deepening cooperation between China and Myanmar unleashes a surging demand for Myanmar language talents, Ling added.
"A country's language offers a window to learn about its traditional culture and social and economic conditions. Chinese people learning the Myanmar language can pull the people of the two countries closer," said Lei Zhuning, a researcher from Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
Lei added that the growing popularity of the Myanmar language among Chinese students shows closer people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation between the two neighboring countries.
The bilateral trade between China and Myanmar reached 13.54 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2019, an annual increase of 17.9 percent, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.
In the period, Chinese enterprises signed new projects in Myanmar with a total contractual investment of 4.77 billion U.S. dollars, surging 238.1 percent year on year.
In Yunnan's border city of Ruili, the largest China-Myanmar land port with more than 30,000 registered Myanmar workers, an increasing number of local residents are learning the Myanmar language amid the bilateral trade boom.
Chen Kecheng, owner of a local fast food restaurant with two Myanmar employees, has been attending a Myanmar language training program since last October. The program, provided by the local government free of charge, is held in a local cultural center at night from Monday to Saturday.
"Language learning can facilitate the exchanges between the people of the two countries and deepen our friendship," he said. "I hope to travel in Myanmar cities such as Mandalay and Yangon and possibly do business in the country after I master the Myanmar language."
