I’m not sure what the purpose of this is, but Beijing residents can register to take English proficiency exams. I understand the purpose of learning English before the Olympics, I just don’t understand what the purpose of obtaining the certificate is. Do they get some sort of special benefits? It’s unclear to me.
I guess for one thing they are offering tests because language skills without having proper test results to prove it aren’t worth a lot in China (the same is true for other parts of the world, though, I guess). Looking at it from
this perspective, offering tests for everyone actually is a means to encourage people to learn English. However, it also seems very likely to me that this is done in order to have some official figures they could use in advertisement campaigns for the Olympics to attract more foreigners, especially since not being able to communicate in Enlish is one of the major concerns of foreigners that are not the type of people who’ve always wanted to hitchhike across China or climb the Himalayas. With official tests they could then say somthing like “80% of the people in Beijing speak English”. These are just some ideas. I’m not absolutely sure what the exact motive is.