Chinese TOEFL officials opened registration for next year’s test at 10:00 a.m. on October 14, but the seats released in Beijing and Shanghai on that day were all taken within five minutes. This phenomenon has attracted widespread attention and media coverage.
According to Taiwan’s Apple Daily, the official microblogging service of the TOEFL test responded that only some seats were opened this time, and some more seats will be released every week from now on.
Some TOEFL training teachers pointed out that the phenomenon of 5 minutes of empty seats is not common in previous years, which may be related to the suspension of exams in the first half of this year because of the epidemic.
But netizens are buzzing with discussion about it. Some netizens said that it is more realistic to vote with one’s feet; others said that it is like running away from the road; and some said that it is “anti-Americanism is work, staying in America is life”.
The popularity of the TOEFL test is very different from the public opinion in China. As the relationship between China and the U.S. worsens, anti-American sentiment has risen in Chinese domestic public opinion. Many people have threatened on the Internet not to go to the United States.
A relevant example is Jin Canrong, a professor and deputy dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China. Jin is known for his anti-American rhetoric, but it is rumored on the Internet that his son, who received his Ph.D. in political science from Boston University, has just returned to China to teach. Some netizens pointed out that this is a typical “anti-American is a job, staying in the U.S. is life”.
On the other hand, the U.S. has tightened visas for Chinese students to study in the U.S., and the number of Chinese students receiving U.S. visas has plummeted this summer.
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