During People's Daily Online's visit to Bangkok, an important city along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the team of reporters visited the school where employees of the Royal Palace of Thailand learn Chinese.

According to the teacher, Ms. Ma Renfeng, her students learn mandarin a few hours per week in order to help them with their daily work and trips to China. She said that employees of the Royal Palace have been learning Chinese for over 30 years, following the great relations between both countries. Some of the employees travel to China every year to attend work related activities.

One student said, "I like studying Chinese because I travel to China often for work and I like to be able to communicate with locals". He added: "When I am in China and I see a Chinese character which does not look like the one I have studied I take a picture and send it to my teacher and ask why it is different to the one in my book".