While I was learning Chinese, we used to love the Confucius Institute because they'd give us free text books so we didn't have to buy them from the university. I remember in my city, the Confucius Institute had native Chinese speaking volunteers who could help with our study, and practice chatting and so on. When it was time for Chinese exams, which are super difficult for native English speakers, they'd do their best to help us go over our class material etc. Absolutely invaluable. Sometimes we could also take classes making dumplings and traditional fans and other arts. It was fun because you could learn new Chinese words and phrases at the same time. And I can tell you this: never once was politics brought up, let alone anything else apart from our study. Seeing that the US has classified Confucius Institutes as a national security risk literally made me laugh out loud. Honestly, what is up with the US and why are they adament on accelerating their own descent so freaking quickly? We've always known that the West, especially the US-led West, was declining, but I could never have guessed it would happen this fast, and it would be completely and utterly at their own hand. The US is scared of shadows, and it's freaking hilarious. 🤣