As the world witnessed China’s miraculous growth of economic strength and the glittering opening ceremony during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the long-asleep Eastern language - Chinese has risen again in the spotlight, turning Chinese learning a must-do summer activity for white-collar family children in Manhattan.

The earliest Chinese language teaching was first started in New Jersey in 1956 by Dr. Marvin Ho and Rev. Egbert W. Andrews, where they established Missionary Language Institute, and later established the Taipei branch in September the same year. Originally, the institute was for Taiwan-bound missionaries who were in need of the ability to communicate, and through learning Chinese were they able to swiftly adapt to Taiwan’s life and understand the profound Chinese culture. As words spread among students, the teaching methodology based on quality and life skills soon attracted more non-missionary students. As a result, the institute was renamed to Taipei Language Institute (TLI) and no longer limited to missionaries, serving as the world’s first Chinese Language School and became a vital education institute for foreigners.

Other than Chinese learning for foreigners, TLI also extended its teaching to other languages like English, Japanese, Russian, French, Spanish, and Italian, combined with TLI’s unique teaching mythologies; with tailored course plans, systematic and scientific assessment standards, and rich selections of cultural experience course, TLI has trained over 300 thousand alumni around the world. It provided systematic language training programs for many employees from many large corporations like American Express, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Galeries Lafayette, LVMH, Bayer, Siemens, British Petroleum, Credit Suisse, Samsung, LG, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Sumitomo, Toyota, and Honda.

TLI’s remarkable teaching ability was vastly acclaimed by top professionals and institutes from Taiwan and foreign countries. In 1959, TLI signed a contract with the U.S. Department of State to teach Chinese to American diplomats and Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan. In 1976, the Ministry of Education ratified the school’s Chinese name “Chung Hua Language Institute” while retaining its English name. As reputation grew through word of mouth and connections, TLI began to expand; since 1996, with its professional teaching staff and systematic approach of customized courses based on student’s ability and different materials, TLI established numerous branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, and New Delhi one after another, providing service for professionals around the world including diplomats of different countries, multi-national senior managers, and so on. Not only did TLI focused on language education, but it also hosted Chinese Folklore and Performing Arts competition and exhibitions, which helped foreigners experience Chinese culture first-hand by using language as a medium, further promoted the beauty and profoundness of Chinese culture to the Western world.

After 60 years of development, TLI has successfully established an enormous global education structure, and extended its reach to other fields like eclectic education, art and cultural performances, translations and publishing, IT industry, medical technology, finance and real estate, international trade, and other general business fields, creating a whole new prospect in TLI history. By keeping the foundation in Taiwan and aiming for the world, TLI strives for business continuity as a multi-national corporation that has a service team with great execution and expertise. With Jason Ho (Son of the founder) as its new CEO, TLI has a new perspective to redefine its role as an education media by undergoing structural transformations, from infusing neo-cultures, utilizing cloud services, providing more diverse and prompt online education, to attempting to develop a whole new media platform that integrates education and financial information by pulling its corporate resources together, thus improving Chinese culture as a whole which reflects TLI’s mission to facility social harmony in the world, and lay down the foundation for another 60 years.