The first part of this paper is an overview of the historical changes of Chinese language and its education in four Southeast Asian nations.
All of these nations experienced a blank period when Chinese language was oppressed or forbidden to be used by the rulers of the time, although length and austerity of the blank period differs from nation to nation.
However, as their relationship with the People's Republic of China in the international political arena improved and economic
exchanges have been revitalized, a different scene from the previous era can be observed in the attitudes toward overseas Chinese and their language.
Questionnaire surveys were carried out for several years to make clear how the situation of the Chinese language (as an ethnic language of overseas Chinese as well as a foreign language) education looks like.
In total, responses from 2,458 pupils and students were collected. Statistical analysis of the responses by nation and the
comparison of responses from Chinese and non-Chinese youth led us to some findings of how different conditions of each country gave rise to influence to the way Chinese language education is carried out and the consciousness and ethnic identity through language is being formed.