Rich and famous families teach their kids Mandarin as China's influence grows

The families of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos have a keen interest in learning Chinese. (ABC News Graphic: Cordelia Brown) Elon Musk tweets a lot but one recent post stuck out. "My son is currently learning Mandarin." The Musks are not the only wealthy family with an interest in learning China's official language. Some of Donald Trump's grandchildren are also learning it, as are the children of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Prince George, the eldest son of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, reportedly learnt some Mandarin in primary school. The appearance of Elon Musk and his son X Æ A-Xii (left) caused a stir during Donald Trump's recent state visit to China. (Reuters: Go Nakamura/Pool) Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, said given China's economy was the second-largest in the world, the rich and powerful had clear motivations to learn. "It's just a practical self-interest and a recognition that China is going to be a massively important technology and economic partner into the future," he told the ABC. "If you're interested in business, even if you're sceptical and not particularly friendly to China … it makes sense to learn Chinese. "Some of these figures, I think they really do believe that engagement with China economically is the future." He said learning Mandarin provided diplomatic opportunities that could help grow relations with Beijing, such as the time Mr Trump's granddaughter, Arabella Kushner, sung in Mandarin in 2017 during the Chinese president's state visit to the US. "When Trump has his granddaughter singing a Chinese song in front of Xi Jinping, it's good diplomacy," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his recent trip to Beijing that more than 100,000 Russians were learning Chinese, and that 20,000 Russians were studying the language in China. Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov was reported in state media as saying his daughter spoke Chinese before Russian thanks to their live-in nanny. Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is fluent in Mandarin and hosted several Chinese government officials in-language during his time in office. But Dr Brown said very few people were studying Chinese languages at university in Western countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. Arabella Kushner became a sensation on Chinese social media platform Weibo after singing in Mandarin. (Supplied: Xinhua news) He hoped the children of these influential families might go on to become ambassadors for learning Chinese, but it was difficult to know the depth of their knowledge. "China is more complicated, more difficult to understand than France or Germany for a European, or for someone from a European cultural background. So we do have to make that investment if we want to deal with this country at parity," he said. "When I'm listening to people in Chinese, when I'm speaking Chinese … it really shapes your character and your behaviour. I think that [speaking Mandarin] makes you much more sophisticated and nuanced in your approach to this very different place." Kensington Palace declined to comment on whether Prince George would be learning Chinese at Eton College. A Meta spokesperson declined the ABC's request for Mr Zuckerberg to comment. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner did not respond. About 990 million people speak Mandarin natively worldwide, according to language database Ethnologue, with the number rising to 1.18 billion when including those who speak it as a second language. The last Australian census in 2021 found that 685,274 people spoke Mandarin at home. Kirsty Duff grew up speaking Chinese at home and has gone on to study it at Adelaide University alongside politics, international relations and media. Kirsty Duff says learning Chinese has boosted her professional connections. (Supplied) She said she wanted to maintain and celebrate her cultural heritage while also bolstering her future career opportunities in Australia-China relations. "On LinkedIn, some people have reached out to me specifically because I can speak Mandarin," Ms Duff said. "It's important in the future that we have students who can speak Mandarin at a business level if we want to really take that into Australian diplomacy and international relations. "In China, all of their high-position people, their children are all studying English. Everybody studies English, it's a critical subject, but we don't have everybody having to study a language here." Dozens of students completing VCE Chinese language subjects face an uncertain future after a Chinese community language school goes into administration. The House of Representatives' education committee last year launched a review into Australia's education system, amid concerns about a sustained decline in Australians learning Asian languages. A subm

Rich and famous families teach their kids Mandarin as China's influence grows

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Rich and famous families teach their kids Mandarin as China's influence grows

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