Practical use of the language will be given more weighting in the Chinese Proficiency Test from next year, the conductor of the examination said yesterday.

Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) is a national-level test to assess the Chinese proficiency of non-native speakers such as foreigners, overseas Chinese and students of Chinese ethnic minorities.

The new test, designed and developed by the HSK Center of Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), will focus more on the abilities to speak Chinese under specific situations, instead of just listening and reading abilities and grammar.

It has an additional section on oral or writing skills; and there are fewer questions for listening and reading sections.

The scoring system, currently at 11 levels, will be simplified to three: beginners' level (HSK Basic), elementary to intermediate level (HSK Elementary-Intermediate) and advanced level (HSK Advanced).

Participants from April next year can choose to take either the current or the new test, which will be the only one from 2008.

BLCU developed the HSK in 1984 and the first test was held overseas in 1991. Since then, more than 1.3 million people from over 120 countries and regions have appeared for the exam; and testing centres have been set up in 34 Chinese cities and 37 countries.

HSK is held several times a year in China and other countries; and has become an important criterion in employers' evaluation of the Chinese proficiency of foreign applicants.

The test has gained wide recognition among scholars and professionals in the country and overseas.

Chinese is growing in popularity throughout the world, according to the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.

An official from the office predicted recently that about 100 million foreigners would learn Chinese by 2010.