KARACHI - A launching ceremony for the book ‘Chinese made easy: 100 lessons in Spoken Chinese’ was held at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) at its Main Campus here on Friday. An IBA statement said that the author is Syed Hasan Javed who is presently the High Commissioner for Pakistan in Singapore. It said that the event kicked-off with opening-sale and book signing by the author. The ceremony proceeded with opening remarks by Dr. Huma Baqai, Chairperson Social Sciences Department at IBA, highlighting the need to learn a foreign language for gaining perspective and IBA’s role. The awareness of the emerging role of Chinese on the global stage is gaining ground. Chinese is the most ancient language spoken by approximately 20 percent of the world’s population and is the national language of Pakistan’s staunchest ally in the region. IBA is one of very few institutions in Pakistan that has introduced Chinese as part of its diverse curriculum. ‘Chinese made easy’ provides guidance to readers in learning basic conversational Chinese for everyday use. The book familiarizesChinese to beginners and teaches skills to start a dialogue with native Chinese speakers. Most often used words and sentences in common situation are also in the book that will assist the traveler where Chinese is spoken. The book uses six mediums to teach Chinese’, it was further stated.Professor Zhou Rong, a special guest, introduced the book and the author stating, Ambassador is an expert and a pioneer in teaching Chinese for our Pakistani friends. He also added, ‘The book is smart, innovative and is a super expressway [to learning Chinese]’. The Ambassador has worked at the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing for eight years and studied Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute in an intensive course for two years. Introducing his book the ambassador addressed the audience on the merits of learning Chinese and focused on how Chinese is making ways as an international language. Stressing on many advantages in speaking Chinese, the Ambassador identified the environments like business and economy etc. where Chinese can be employed. The ambassador said, ‘China has lifted the largest number of people in human history from poverty, it’s the largest exporter in the world and the largest market in the world’. Adding to the power of language the author said, ‘This book could be a game-changer for Pakistan’. Through examples of techniques used in his book the Ambassador showed that Chinese is easy to learn. The ceremony concluded with closing remarks and a token of appreciation presented to the Ambassador by Dr. Ishrat Husain, Dean and Director IBA. Dr. Husain emphasized the importance of Chinese predicting, ‘World economy and business will be dominated by China’. On the increased global role of Chinese and how learning it is a valuable skill with great prospects. The ceremony was held at the newly constructed, state-of-the-art Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) building.Zardari condoles death of Yousafzai: President Asif Ali Zardari expressed profound grief and sorrow over demise of Gohar Ali Yousafzai of Shahbaz Garahi in Mardan District who passed away two days ago. Late Gohar Ali Yousafzai was the first ever elected Chairman of PSF of the province having been elected to it in the PSF Convention. As an active member of Peoples Students Federation, Gohar Ali Yousafzai took aggressive part in the MRD movements for democracy and spent three years in various jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The President in his condolence message lauded services of late Gohar Ali for democracy saying that he was a committed democrat and a fearless activist. He will be long remembered, the President said. The President prayed to Almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed soul and give courage to the bereaved family to bear this loss with fortitude.