Final of 18th ‘Chinese Bridge’ Competition for College School Students Successfully Held in Dublin
The Irish Final of 18th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students took place in the Confucius Institute New Building on 14 April 2019. The event was hosted by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) and co-organized by the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland, UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland and UCD Irish Institute for Chinese Studies.
The event was attended by distinguished guests including the Chinese Ambassador H.E. Dr. Yue Xiaoyong, UCD President Prof. Andrew Deeks, Mr. Dawei Zheng, the First Secretory of the Head of Education Section of the Chinese Embassy to Ireland, Director and Chinese Director of the UCD Confucius Institute Prof. Liming Wang and Mr. Wei Zhang as well as local Chinese media representatives including Xinhua News Agency Irish Bureau, Huarenzhi New Media. The Chinese Bridge Competition has been held in Ireland for ten years. It is an important platform for Chinese learners in Ireland to demonstrate their achievements of Chinese language and culture learning. This year's competition attracted a total of 12 contestants from University College Dublin, University College Cork, Maynooth University, Dublin Institute of Technology and Dublin City University. Nearly 100 Chinese culture lovers watched the competition.
The competition includes a preliminary and a final round. In the preliminary round, every contestant delivered a 90-second self-introduction and a free personal speech, followed by a 2-minute talent show. Eight outstanding contestants entered the final round. In the final, the contestants gave Chinese speeches on the theme of “One World, One Family” and answered questions from the judges. Their fluency Chinese speeches and heartful expression won rounds of warm applause from the audience and judges. The players showed their own skills in forms of Chinese traditional arts such as Chinese songs, Chinese calligraphy, allegro. All these turned the final into an audio-visual feast of Chinese language and Chinese culture.
After fierce competition, Felix O'Mahoney from UCC won the championship of this competition. Cathal Brennan from UCD and Jade Smyth from DCU were awarded the second prize and Christie Lee from DIT and Megan Phuong Kieu Luu from NUI Maynooth and Diana Panova from UCD won the third prize. Chinese Ambassador H.E. Dr. Yue Xiaoyong, UCD President Prof. Andrew Deeks，the First Secretory Mr. Dawei Zheng and UCD Confucius Institute Prof. Liming Wang presented the first, second and third prizes and “the Most Promising Prize” to the winners.
After awarding ceremony，Chinese Ambassador H.E. Dr. Yue Xiaoyong and UCD President Prof. Andrew Deeks addressed Speeches. Ambassador Yue offered his congratulations to all the prize winners and contestants firstly. In accordance with the topic “One World,One Family”, he explained further the philanthropism of Chinese nation— “All the people of the world are brothers”,”With shared value，we can share the world peacefully”, indicating that Chinese people are delighted to make joint hands with the world to push forward a peaceful and prosperous community with shared future for mankind.
In President Andrew’s address, he said that as a achievement exhibition platform for Irish students, this event not only enhanced students' understanding of Chinese and Chinese culture, but also stimulated students' enthusiasm and interest in learning Chinese and narrowed the distance between Irish students and China.
Since 2002, the annual “Chinese Bridge” has attracted more than 1 million young students from more than 130 countries. During the 18 years, "Chinese Bridge" hosted by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) has become an authoritative international competition for university students from all over the world to demonstrate Chinese proficiency, Chinese cultural knowledge and Chinese talent skills.
