At 8 years old, Spartanburg Day School student Sage Kuhens is speaking and writing Chinese.

She knows how to introduce herself in Chinese and how to talk about her family, including her dog. She may not understand it all, yet, but after only a year and a half of instruction, Sage is off to a good start.

It's a skill her parents believe is crucial if she wants to one day become a business leader, and they aren't the only ones.

Chinese language courses have started at SDS, Wofford College and the University of South Carolina Upstate, all within the last five years. As China emerges more and more as a world leader, the classes are becoming as much of the schools' foreign language departments as the more prevalent Spanish, French and German courses.

"It was one of the reasons we sent her to the Day School," said Sage's father, Brian Kuhens, a Spartanburg investment adviser. "We were very impressed that they had Chinese because I was traveling to China at the time, and I failed at my attempt to learn Mandarin. ... I'm no longer going to China because I didn't learn the language."

Kuhens hopes Sage will be able to have an advantage he didn't, and maybe even teach him a thing or two.

SDS has offered Chinese classes to students in its lower school (4-year-old kindergarten through fourth grade) for three years now. The upcoming school year will be the first that Chinese will be offered in the fifth grade. An after-school Chinese Club is also made available to students, and a Chinese New Year celebration is one of the biggest events of the school year.

"In the 21st century, China's booming economy, the population, the trade, the industry, it's one of those languages people need to know because we're going to be working with them closely," said Peggy Karpick, principal of the SDS lower school. "It broadens their perspective of the world that they're going to be working in."

Li Qing Kinnison, assistant professor of Chinese studies at Wofford College, estimates that one-fifth of the world's population now speaks Chinese. With a population of about 1.3 billion, Kinnison said it isn't hard to see China's influence at work nearly anywhere in the world.

"Look at the imports from the United States," she said. "Go to Wal-Mart, to the toy section, go to anything but food."

It's for this reason she will impress upon her 30-plus students enrolled in Chinese 101 and 102 this year the importance of learning the language, and learning it well.

Wofford's Chinese program was set up four years ago, and last year the school implemented a Chinese major that requires students to study abroad in China for one semester. Chinese classes are held at Wofford all five school days a week because of its difficulty and the amount of practice needed. There are no letters to write, only characters that depict words and phrases.

"I believe studying Chinese will really open one's horizon and world view," Kinnison said, noting that most of her students are biology, business or political science majors hoping to apply the language to their future careers.

"I have always had an appreciation for Asian history and culture, and when I enrolled in the Chinese program at Wofford in the fall of 2005, I found the language of Chinese to be very intriguing and interesting," said rising senior Jeff Gurganus, who hopes to use his knowledge of the language to teach. "Gradually, as I continued to learn the language, I realized how much the Chinese language, namely the characters, really is a form of art in itself. This was also very fascinating and appealing to me, since I am a bit of an artist myself."

The decision to offer Chinese classes at USC Upstate last year was based on student demand, said Warren Carson, chair of the school's languages, literature and composition department.

"There had been several requests from students, particularly those who wanted to study international business and things of that nature," Carson said. "With the growth of the Chinese population, it will give many of our students a greater appreciation for another culture and acquiring a different language."

Carson said the introductory courses were well-subscribed and attended by about 35 students, as well as a couple of faculty members.

"Chinese is typically going to be a very small program for us, but it fills an important niche as we continue to provide experiences in world languages for our students," Carson said.

The Kuhens hope Sage will continue her Chinese education, maybe even at Wofford or USC Upstate, and Sage won't argue. Not only is she excited about another year of the language, but she hopes to travel to China one day to put what she's learned to use.

"I would love to see the Great Wall, the emperor's palace," she said. "I want to see pretty much everything."