Asian languages are enjoying a boom in Russia's Far East, as young people thirsting for a good career learn Mandarin and other languages of Asia-Pacific neighbours.
China's main Mandarin dialect is today the second most popular foreign language in Vladivostok's Far Eastern State University after English, rather than French or German.
"There is a massive interest in Oriental Studies right now. Here we are right next door to China, Japan and South Korea," said Andrei Alexandrov, a top administrator at the university's Oriental Institute.
During the paranoia of Stalin's era, when the borders were tightly sealed, the university's entire Asian languages department was closed down in 1939 and only reopened in 1956 after his death.
But university students in this Pacific port city can now choose between Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi and Thai. Bengali may soon be added to the curriculum.
After a surge in interest over the past five years, as the Russian Far East integrates ever more with booming Asian economies, an unprecedented 1,123 students are taking degrees in Asian languages.
This compares to a total of 1,500 graduates in this field during the previous three decades.
Another 900 students are also studying an Asian language as an optional extra, mainly Mandarin.
Aliona, a second year student who is majoring in Mandarin with Japanese and English as additional languages, said she felt confident about her future.
"With a Chinese degree, you can work in business or tourism. It offers good prospects," she said.
Fellow student Dmitry also voiced pragmatic reasons for studying Chinese.
"We live near to China and if I learn Chinese I can find work," he said. The University administrator, Alexandrov, said former graduates included multi-millionaire businessmen and senior officials in Moscow.
"Only one in ten stay in the linguistic field, the others go into business or work in government," he said.
Asian languages are not an easy option, with up to a third of students dropping out.
The university demands immense dedication from the students, who all study two Asian languages in addition to English.
They have to attend university six days a week, with two to three hours a day of classes and five to six hours a day of homework, including on Sundays.
But some get a head start by having taken Chinese classes at school. Uniquely, there are three state schools in Vladivostok specialised in Mandarin, and the language is available in dozens of other schools as an optional subject.
In one elite secondary educational establishment, Mandarin, Hindi, Thai, Vietnam and Korean are all taught. Russia's Asian partners have awoken to the value of a new generation of Russians fluent in their languages.
The Chinese faculty's language laboratory was a gift from China and the university's Oriental Institute receives financing from South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
"We turn them into experts who can maintain links with our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, they don't only know the language but the culture," said Alexander Sokolovsky, head of the department for South and South Eastern Asian studies.
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