In brief
A Jakarta expo on Nov. 2 drew about 3,000 Indonesian students, Chinese‑language learners and parents to explore study pathways in China and career options. The event highlighted Chinese universities—including Peking and Tsinghua—and featured inspiring stories such as that of Dexter Godwin, a petroleum‑engineering graduate now working in Indonesia. It also spotlighted young learners Calysta Wijaya and Richard Dharma Hungnata, who are preparing for the HSK exam to access higher education abroad.
The 2026 Indonesia HSK study in China and career expo, held on Sunday in Jakarta, brought together around 3,000 Indonesian students, Chinese‑language learners and parents eager to learn about study opportunities in China.
The exhibit showcased 21 Chinese universities, including Peking University and Tsinghua University, and presented information on the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) as a gateway to Chinese higher‑education admissions.
Among the attendees was 16‑year‑old Calysta Jacqueline Wijaya, a high‑school student who has been learning Chinese for 11 years. She said,
I want to study pharmacy in China,adding that she hopes to bring the professional knowledge back to Indonesia to help more people. Calysta is working to improve her HSK score as she prepares to apply to Chinese universities.
Her classmate, 15‑year‑old Richard Dharma Hungnata, also has extensive experience with Chinese. Having studied the language since primary school, he can already communicate fluently and hopes to study engineering at a Chinese university. He plans to take the HSK exam after his second year of high school to strengthen his university applications.
Zheng Wenting, a teacher who heads a Mandarin education centre in Indonesia, told Xinhua that an increasing number of parents have become interested in Chinese language instruction and that enrollment at her institution has grown from about 50 students a decade ago to nearly 500 today.
The expo also featured the success story of Dexter Godwin, an Indonesian graduate who earned a petroleum‑engineering degree in China and now works in Indonesia. His example was used to illustrate the potential career pathways available to Indonesian students who master Chinese.
Overall, the event highlighted the role of Chinese language education in opening doors for Indonesian youth to study and work abroad, while underscoring the growing enthusiasm for learning Mandarin across the country.
