Celebrity Zhang Yingfei's Visit To The Philippines Proves Mandarin Chinese (華語) Is Becoming More Important in the World Market

Chinoy TV

This is a viral Facebook post right now. Zhang Yingfei, who was dubbed as "Linda Walker "in a micro-drama The Heiress Who Won With Brains. Sure, there are tensions right now between the Chinese government and ASEAN countries. Back then, I remember I was "outstanding" in the Chinese class, in the sense of being disconnected from the Chinese language classes and getting bad grades. It's because the classes were taught in Hokkien, where your only reward was actually passing; the siansi (teacher) didn't spank you with a ruler or do any absurd punishment for compliance, and the foundations were built on dead repetition. Thankfully, the Chinese School Association shied away from the mandatory Hokkien to the open-house approach. It's because the open-house approach would mean, "You learn Mandarin in the language you already know. Let's teach Mandarin using English or your local dialect." It's like one of our Chinese siansis actually started teaching Mandarin with Cebuano as a medium of instruction to a group of adults.

Back in the 2010s, I remember running into a couple of Mainland Chinese students. In the 2000s, the rise of Meteor Garden and other Chinese shows was a thing. It's 2026, and somehow, the Chinese wave is still strong. Last 2025, Mandarin had already reached a staggering 1.2 billion speakers according to Langoly. Sure, not learning Mandarin or getting a Chinese diploma can still get you a job within the Philippines. Filipinos don't need to learn Chinese to get a job because the days of the Chinese clannish businesses (which I heard was called the "shadow economies") are already long gone. Chinoys have integrated, accepting anyone who could speak the default language of the Philippines. However, it greatly limits things in the Asian Century. I even felt like that I wish I had actually dug deeper into Mandarin Chinese whenever I ran into Chinese students during my MBA days. I couldn't even really express myself when I spoke to some Mainland Chinese students. 

Philippines News Agency

It should be interesting that the celebrity herself, Yingfei, also collaborated with Quezon City's Mayor Maria Josefina Tanya "Joy" Go Belmonte-Alimurung. Yingfei gave tips on how to be a better student, although we still do need to address the Philippine education system's flaws by continuously updating it. The activity was organized by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FCCCII). We can all relax because not all Mainland Chinese who come to the Philippines are POGO agents like controversial "mayor" Alice Guo aka Guo Huaping. However, I noticed some jokes on Facebook joked about her as Alice's "sister" with laughing emojis. 

It made me think of that one particular lesson that didn't shake me until college. I could remember the siansi who we coined as the strictest siansi, talking about how there are many Chinese speakers worldwide. The Hokkien word for Mandarin was also called Hua Gu (華語), which is also called Standard Chinese. However, we were stuck using textbooks that would never achieve the HSK learning as intended. The siansis had no choice but to use Zhuyin, which has become so archaic that some siansis tell me to just forget about the Chinese diploma back during the si-thak or dead reading days. Thankfully, Pinyin is getting more recognition because it's what bridges that we often called as Lannang Tiam (Chinese stores) with the government. In fact, the Chinoy cultural evolution even goes as far as to call Pinyin "bopomofo" and all Chinese dialects (such as Mandarin), lannang-ue. It's like we say that Mandarin, Hokkien, and Cantonese are three types of lannang-ue. As a Chinoy, I even dubbed Yingfei as a "lannang bengseng" or Chinese celebrity.

The aim shouldn't be focused on dead repetition. Instead, teaching Mandarin Chinese should be focused on practical, meaningful scenarios. Sure, stories might still be used. However, we need to think that people are actually learning Chinese, not just memorize, pass the test, then dump, rinse, and repeat. For example, the sample conversation sheet above starts making the bon toi (which is often used as mini-conversations) more useful because we understand what's being spoken. For example, in the first statement, we can replace American with Filipino for a start. Use these conversations to adjust to certain answers depending on the person's situation. A person can say, "I have no siblings." or "I have one younger sister." in Mandarin Chinese. This is more about understanding than just dead repetition.

This reminds me of a group that I had. Somebody talked about Chinese teacher nicknames, a common tradition back then. It's because the siansis never told us their English names. I mean, isn't it funny I only knew Siansi Minus' real name when I met her son in college? Back then, we only called her Siansi Minus because he would always warn, "I will deduct your points!" in Hokkien. I said, "We were always memorizing without understanding." A consistent honor student agreed because the guy didn't care about Latin honors (which he risked by shifting to nursing after one semester in another subject, graduating, and later migrating), and that the pump-and-dump or cramming method never worked. 

The recent visit that ended on June 11, 2026, is another call. We want to make Standard Chinese more accessible. We shouldn't just make the importance known but also make it more accessible. Raising awareness is just one part of the equation. Making Chinese more accessible and manageable makes a difficult task of learning a new language more meaningful.