"It's become a new trend to learn in English in China. If you can speak English fluently, it can make you very attractive. A lot of people really admire, even worship those people who can speak fluent English in their daily lives. I admire one of my friends whose English is perfect. That's my goal: I want achieve that level." (来源：英语杂志 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

Among the Asian countries, except for Malaysia, which ranks at 9th, Japan and South Korea all performed better than China, while India unexpectedly ranks behind at 30th. Many people blame the focus on rote memorization and grammar-focused education method as not forming effective English speakers. Christopher McCormick talks about some of these challenges.

"There are unique challenges in China. 300 million people are learning English today in China, so you can imagine the scale that poses all kinds of challenges in terms of teacher training, resources and materials. So there's tremendous pressure on the system and on people to find the most effective way to learn English, but with such high numbers. So there's tremendous potential for China to grow, but the initiatives take time."

It is reported that in 2010, the market value of the private English training market in China exceeded 30 billion RMB, or 4.6 billion USD, and there are currently over 100 thousand native English-speaking teachers in the country. Compared to the market in Japan, which reached 20 billion USD, it follows that China should put more in this area.

More measures such as multi-lingual systems and community based programs, which were proved to be successful in European countries, have also been suggested. But with the huge population and lack of experience, there is still a long way to go.