China Gives $1-Million to Start Institute at University of Massachusetts

China has given $1-million to support a new nonprofit institute at the University of Massachusetts in Boston that will focus on Chinese language and culture, reports The Boston Globe.

The money will be used to start the seventh Confucius Institute the country has financed in the United States. University officials believe the state is ripe for such an institute, estimating that Massachusetts will need nearly 400 teachers of Mandarin, China’s official language, in the next three years, the Globe reports.

“China has the fastest-growing economy and is on track to be one of the three largest economies in the world,” Jack M. Wilson, president of the University of Massachusetts, says. “Chinese has to be at the top of the list of languages to study.”