International businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language, China has become a huge market and businesses leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in the Chinese cultural context. Knowing Chinese gives you an edge in competing for important positions; China will play a major role in world affairs in the future. As China now is open up to the west there are opportunities for employment in all areas. China is one of the world’s oldest and richest continuous culture for over 5000 years. China is the most populous nation in the world with 1.3 billion people 873 million speakers, making it the most widely spoken first language in the world with 1/5th speaking Mandarin Chinese. In addition to the people’s Republic of China and  Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the important and influential Chinese communities of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei the Philippines and Mongolia. China has now become the second-largest economy in the world. China is one of the leading partners of the United States, many US companies do business in China. The study of the Chinese language opens the way to different important fields such as Chinese politics, economy, history, archaeology and logistics.