For tertiary education, by the 1960s a few Chinese students went on to Francophone universities in Madagascar or in France. In 1957, the École Franco-Chinoise began sending students to Taiwan for education, starting with nine in the first year and totalling 34 by 1964. These students tended to attend the Overseas Chinese Preparatory High School (now part of National Taiwan Normal University) before going on to their degree work; many had trouble with Mandarin. Some returned to Madagascar, but found difficulties in advancement there due to the non-recognition of their degrees. The Confucius Institute opened a branch at the University of Antananarivo in November 2008. By June 2013, more than 28 Chinese language teaching institutes had been established across the country. Religious affiliation The Chinese of Madagascar largely follow the Roman Catholic religion, like the rest of the urban Malagasy population. Questionnaires in the 1970s found that Catholicism was especially common among young people under 30. However another study noted that many however were Catholics in name only. There were also examples of syncretism with Chinese folk religion in those days: the Chinese Community Centers in Tamatave (Toamasina) and Diego Suarez (Antsiranana) had altars to Southern Chinese deities, and a few people could still be seen paying their respects; furthermore, some people reported that their families had altars for veneration of their ancestors. Economy Chinese came not just as indentured labourers, but as free migrants too. Often, a Sino-Mauritian would bring his relatives over from China to Mauritius for a period of apprenticeship in his business; after they had gained sufficient familiarity with commercial practises and life in a colonial society, he would send them onwards with letters of introduction, lending them his own capital to start up businesses in neighbouring countries, including Madagascar. Import-export was one popular business, with products such as coffee, cloves, vanilla beans, and sea cucumbers flowing outwards. Most of the Chinese in Madagascar are engaged in retail business. In the 1990s, they controlled half of the alcoholic beverages and textiles industries; by the mid-2000s, their share of the alcoholic beverages industry had fallen to one-fifth, while that of the textiles industry had increased to 90%. Others operated cake shops and ice-cream parlours, somewhat along the lines of coffee shops, where customers could sit down and enjoy a dessert; they controlled about 10% of this industry. Popular resentment at the recent influx of Chinese small traders,