About 6,000 people enrolled last year for classes in Chinese given by Pula Muralha in Brazil, twice the number the year before, Você S/A reports.

The Brazilian magazine says the closure of bricks-and-mortar schools as a precaution against COVID-19 helped the Pula Muralha online school enrol students in 662 different parts of Brazil, in many of which instruction in Chinese is otherwise unavailable.

The report quotes a co-founder of Pula Muralha, Lucas Brandt, as saying its classes are in high demand in central and western parts of Brazil, where farming is important and Chinese investment greatest.

Mr Brandt and his wife, Si Lao, then a teacher of Chinese at São Paulo State University, began in 2014 by giving classes on YouTube, amassing 750,000 followers, the report says.

Interest in Chinese culture is growing in Brazil, and is the main reason for enrolling given by 58 per cent of Pula Muralha students, Você S/A says.