The contestants competing. Photo by the production team
The eighth round of the final of the 18th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students concluded in Changsha on August 14th. Xiao Ma from Australia, Shi Yu from Egypt, Luo Mingyan from the United States, An Zishi from Moldova and Jiang Tiangai from Myanmar stood out as the champions of five continents from fierce competition.
According to the rules, the scores earned in the Q&A sessions of the fifth and the eighth round in the final were summed up as a contestant’s total score, and a contestant’s final score was converted with the total score multiplied by 40% plus the simulation test score multiplied by 60%. The contestant whose total score ranked first in the continent would be the champion of that continent and thus advance to the final. Contestants whose total scores ranked second and third would win the first prize and the second prize respectively.
The contestants interacting with one another. Photo by the production team
In the listening warm-up, the contestants were required to find out the names that didn’t appear in the lyrics of Shiny Happiness, that is, “I am someone of some family, I am stronger than Li Kui and more handsome than Zhang Fei, with my hair stuck together dark and shiny...”. Facing the difficult questions, they felt awkward, all saying that they couldn’t understand the song.
However, Jia Song, the British contestant gave the correct answer. “I noticed that among the three choices of Li Kui, Yan Hui and Zhang Fei, both Li Kui and Zhang Fei are the names that sound kind of rough, but Yan Hui sounds very gentle. So I chose this one.”
Jiang Tiangai From Myanmar. Photo by the production team
In the “Magic Square of Chinese Characters” section, ancient Chinese poets’ nostalgia dating back to a thousand years ago stroke a chord with the contestants, for instance, the lines of verse of “I looked towards the northwest and did not see my hometown”. How many times did I see the full moon when I looked towards the southeast” by Bai Juyi deeply moved the Brazilian contestant Li Meng. “August 11th was Father’s Day in Brazil this year, but I couldn’t go home and celebrate it with my father. So I miss him very much. He has been encouraging me ever since I began to learn Chinese.” said Li Meng.
Maria from Russia talked about her own experience of learning Chinese touchingly. “When I started to learn Chinese, no one thought that it was a good idea. They said Chinese was the most difficult language in the world. Thanks to my parents who encouraged me, I had the chance to fulfill my dream.”
In this year, the contestants played table tennis with the robots in SIASUN in Shanghai, took the Fuxing train in Hebei to know about the technological achievements of China, and studied Confucian culture in the Confucius Research Institute in Shandong, knowing about a real, vivid and all-round China from multiple perspectives. A record of these wonderful moments was presented to the audience that day. “In my opinion, high-speed train ranks first among the new four great inventions of China and it is also the ‘Chinese specialty’ I talk about most to my friends.” said Maria from Russia.
In the Myanmar Division of the Chinese Bridge Competition, Jiang Tiangai won the champion owing to his excellent Chinese proficiency, his refreshing dance “Big Fish” brilliantly and high scores in the written exam. He also learned Disciple Gauge, Three Character Classic and The Analects of Confucius very well. “It contributes a lot to improving personal virtue and cultural upbringing,” said Jiang Tiangai. He also noted that with more and more exchanges made between China and Myanmar in recent years and a number of Chinese-invested enterprises in Myanmar, people who could speak Chinese are in good demand there.
Jia Song from Britain. Photo by the production team
In this round, Jiang Tiangai performed excellently, being the only one to correctly answer the three very difficult questions. “Learning Chinese requires applying knowledge absorbed from various fields. I have learned a lot of ancient poems through Chinese songs.” He dreamed of becoming a translator in the embassy or a Chinese teacher.
It is learned that the world top five contestants will make good preparations for the final of the 2019 Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition to be held on August 22nd, all striving for the global championship. (cited from Confucius Institute Headquarters, source: Chinanews.com, Story by Tang Xiaoqing, Wu Jialing and Su Zhiyan)
