The rapid growth of China’s economy nowadays has made China a global economic power. This has led to the increasingly new interest in China from those outside the country. As a result, there is also a growing interest in learning Chinese language. Centers of Chinese language learning has been thriving around the world, and the number of Chinese proficiency test (HSK) takers are also rising. The same goes for Indonesia. Along with this global trend, the 1998 reform in Indonesia had brought back the chance for Chinese language to be studied widely. Chinese language is taught in language courses, public schools and universities, and the number of students has been increasing.

Nevertheless, the motivation of the learners or users of Chinese language is not uniform. Many studies had shown that learning motivation is influenced by social and cultural factors, benefits, and also personal satisfaction. The background of the learners, their learning environment, and the learning process itself, take part in forming the motivation. As for the learners, apparently Chinese language is not only learnt by ethnic Chinese, but it is also learnt and used by other ethnic groups, with varied backgrounds, purposes and usage levels.

This situation has sparked the interest in exploring Chinese language in the new atmosphere. Responding to the growing interest, CCIS and the Chinese Department of Petra Christian University hold a conference under the theme of Chinese Language : The Learners and their purposes. The major objectives of this conference are: providing an intellectual forum for the discussions of variable linguistic realities of Chinese language, challenging the ways people teach and study Chinese and reexamining the studies of Chinese linguistic trends and practices in a globalized world. These objectives are inspired by the fact that Chinese language learners and users come from diverse social, political, and cultural background, such as: politicians, army, business people, besides educators, translators, copywriters and tour guides. We expect that this conference will bring together multidisciplinary researches and perspectives on the social, cognitive, pedagogic aspects and linguistic impacts of the use and the teaching of Chinese.

Students, teachers, scholars, researchers and media, communication, cultural studies and linguistic experts are welcome to offer both global and local perspectives on the varieties of Chinese linguistic realities in a wide range of social and cultural context. In this way, this conference functions as a space to bridge the gaps between research findings and the praxis of the use and teaching of Chinese language. We believe that this conference could provide a platform for participants to exchange ideas, obtain valuable experiences, and broaden their academic knowledge and networking.