Sketch of the history of foreign language teaching and interpreter training in the Chinese empire (from the ancient period to the first half of the 17th century)

In order to facilitate contacts between Chinese diplomats and foreign missions, which have regularly visited China since ancient times, the posts of interpreters were created at the courts of local governors, and language schools were opened to train the interpreters. The foreign languages that were taught there could quite meet the requirements of Chinese diplomacy in the Eastern region. However, Chinese primitive thinking of interstate relations and their peculiar foreign affairs concept, which raised Chinese Empire above the rest of the world, put essential limitations on the language training system of the county.