The Eastern Japan Preliminary Round for the 3rd “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students Draws to a Successful Conclusion

Tokyo, July 11 – the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, along with 6 Confucius Institutes/Classrooms in Eastern Japan, Osaka International House Foundation and Eastern Japan Chinese Teachers Association successfully hosted the Eastern Japan Preliminary Round of the 3rd “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students on the Shinjuku Campus of Kogakuin University.

20 candidates hailing from 14 high schools in Saitama, Kanagawa, Tokyo, Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate amongst others attended the competition. Focusing on the theme of “Fun with Chinese, Growing with Vigor”, candidates elaborated upon their own experiences in Chinese learning and staged Chinese folk dance, diabolo, calligraphy and paper cutting performances. Their precise pronunciation and excellent performances deeply impressed the 150 audience.

After heated competition, candidate SuetomiShuhei from Kanto International Senior High School, candidate Ota Etufumi from Saitama Prefectural Inagakuen Comprehensive Upper Secondary School and candidate Kyoharuka from the International Christian University High School swept up the first place prizes, candidate Abe Chiaki from Saitama Prefectural Inagakuen Comprehensive Upper Secondary School won the award for “Most Eloquent” and candidate Takahasi Momoko from Iwate Prefectural Kozugata Senior High School took the best “Arts Talent” award.

After the competition, Sun Jianmin, Minister-Counselor of Chinese Embassy in Japan and Tsukamoto Keiichi, Head of the competition’s judiciary panel both praised the competition highly, pointing out that as the impact of “Chinese Bridge” competition extended, this year’s competition has achieved a new record in candidate numbers. Also, Candidates’ Chinese proficiency has improved dramatically, almost equaling that of the proficiency of university students. Meanwhile the two also encouraged candidates to keep on studying hard and contribute to the mutual understanding and friendship of the two countries’ peoples.

Candidates and guests were invited to attend a meeting held after the competition to make exchanges on their experience and methods in Chinese learning and to tell their stories about their communications with Chinese friends. The meeting concluded in a warm and friendly atmosphere.