The course, available to both JPOs and the inspectorate since August last year, covers a number of topics including commonly used Chinese terms in police work, Putonghua pronunciation, the hanyu pingyin system, listening and oral training sessions, simplified Chinese characters, punctuation and a general introduction to the Mainland society.

The study also provides the participants with an opportunity to have a closer look at the latest developments on the Mainland. They will visit some large Mainland enterprises and meet public security officials.

The first two courses were held in August and November last year respectively. Some participants talked about their learning experience to OffBeat.

Senior Inspector Poon Ka-yui said that the course helped improve his Putonghua proficiency. He had also learned simplified Chinese characters.

"I learned Putonghua when I was in Form One and Form Two classes but after that I did not have many opportunities to practise it and therefore my Putonghua pronunciation was not very good. Recently, I found that I needed to pick it up again because there was an increasing demand for us to use Putonghua in our daily work.

"Since our class size was not too big with only 24 officers, the instructors could pay enough attention to each of us to correct our pronunciation. We also had an opportunity to experience the Mainland lifestyle," SIP Poon enthused.

Police Constable Cheng Ka-wing was grateful to the instructors for their unfailing enthusiasm in teaching him. "It was great to have a taste of campus life and I also had the opportunity to make friends with colleagues from different formations," PC Cheng said.

Another participant, Police Constable Lee Ka-wai said that the academic atmosphere induced them to concentrate on learning. "There were many students from other countries such as Japan and the United States and we got plenty of chances to practise Putonghua with them."

Sergeant Kwok Yiu-chung felt much more confident in speaking Putonghua and writing Chinese after attending the course. He said: "My fluency in Putonghua has much improved and I am no longer afraid of handling Chinese documents."

LIA Chairman Liu Kit-ming said: "The response to the course has been overwhelming and over 200 officers have applied to join the course. We may hold two classes at the same time this year to shorten the waiting time."