What do you use Chinese for?

I, as a native Chinese and an instructor of Chinese in the states, am often asked by some people "Why would people in the states need to study Chinese?/What would you do with Chinese?", immediately after they find out that I teach Chinese. Based on my experience of this online forum, I feel that quite a lot of you guys have lots of experience of using Chinese as a foreign language for work and life. So what do you use Chinese for? And what has motivated you to study and continue studying Chinese? What's your view of the future of Chinese learning and teaching in the U.S. and other parts of the world?

Sorry for throwing so many questions here. But I would really appreciate you sharing your opinions/stories so that I have more ideas about this, and as a professional in this field I do need to know more about these.
I don't know much about the state of the teaching market in the US, so this is my speculation.

I think that the Chinese learning hype will continue, but ultimately the bubble will burst. I don't think that we'll ever have the situation where 10% of Americans (or German, or British, or French, etc.) speak Chinese, like they do with some other languages in some of these countries.

I do expect that the interest in Chinese will be higher than before, that there will be more people studying Chinese at the university level, or for professional reasons (translators, working overseas, etc.) and Chinese will be offered at more places (like schools and community colleges) but let's face it, this will always be a tiny minority of people. The language is simply too much work for the wide masses, and there are languages which are easier to learn and far more useful for many purposes.

Personally, I have zero need for Chinese. I cannot imagine any scenario where speaking the language might be in any way beneficial to me (professionally), other than possibly the "cool" factor when applying for a job.

I learn it for personal reasons, and because I'm interested in the language and the people. I certainly find it worthwhile. But reading Chinese classics and conversing with Chinese people (who will mostly speak English anywy) will not motivate most people to go through the necessary effort.

I might be too pessimistic here, but I don't think that people will learn a few semesters of Chinese en masse so they can go and integrate into a Chinese workplace. I mean, people moving to China to work will obviously find it useful, but they are still relatively few, and many don't even bother to learn the language.

It will likely continue to be the province of language lovers, people marrying into Chinese families, kung fu practitioners, feng shui hobbyists, and other people with a strong interest in the Chinese culture. More than today due to improved teaching and increased relevance of China, but still a fringe in the grand scheme of things.