“In the past few years – mainly after the announcement of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in 2015 – there has been an unprecedented surge in the number of students wanting to learn Chinese,” said Misbah Rasheed, a Chinese language instructor at the Islamabad-based National University of Modern Languages (NUML).

“Prior to CPEC we had some 200 students learning Chinese. Now we have over 2,000 in our different programs,” Rasheed told.

Rasheed said the university established a Chinese language department in the 1970s solely for the purpose of familiarizing Pakistani military officials with Chinese culture. Later, the department was opened to common citizens also.

There has been a sudden interest in learning Chinese – mainly the most-spoken Mandarin variety in China – in the Islamic country. Experts say it is a result of the multibillion-dollar CPEC initiative, which is mainly a trade route, but will also generate jobs in Pakistan.

In 2015, China announced CPEC worth $46 billion (41 billion euros). With the project, Beijing aims to expand its influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia in order to counter US and Indian influence. CPEC also includes plans to create road, rail and oil pipeline links to improve connectivity between China and the Middle East.

Pakistan is grappling with an acute economic crisis. Experts say that CPEC can certainly stir the much-needed economic activity in the country.