Changsha, on the evening of July 30th, 2013 - The Grand Final of the 12th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students was held in the International Communication Base Studio of Chinese Language and Culture in Changsha. An Australian student named Alistair Bayley (“Bei Letai” in Chinese Pinyin) won the championship and the “Chinese Star” title after fierce competition in this international Chinese language “banquet”. Mr. Xu Jialu, Vice Chairman of the 9th and 10th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the PRC; Mr. Xu Shousheng, Secretary of the Hunan CPC Provincial Committee, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress; Madam Xu Lin, Counselor of the State Council, Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters, Director-General of Hanban; Mr. Xu Yousheng, member of the Standing Committee of Hunan Provincial CPC Committee, Director of Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee; Mr. Han Yongwen, member of the Standing Committee of Hunan Provincial CPC Committee and Secretary-General of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee; Mr. Li Youzhi, Vice Governor of Hunan Province, and Mr. Wang Yongli, Deputy Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters and Deputy Director of Hanban were all present and awarded prizes to the winners.
Ten contestants from five continents going through preliminary contests, “crossing the bridge” contests, three semi-finals, and two finals, eventually made their way to the Grand Final, which was divided into two rounds. In the first round they competed for the Continent Championship. Representatives of Oceania, Asia, America, Europe and Africa respectively played melodramas Transnational Love, Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan, Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Oceans, Red Sorghum and International Partner. With the help of five tutors, namely Zhang Tielin, Bao Guoan, Yu Entai, Mai Hongmei, and Shang Wenjie, the contestants showed their excellent Chinese language proficiency and superb acting talents, winning praises from both the honored guests and the jury. The jury consisted of the famous broadcasting guide and CCTV’s “News Network” anchor, Hai Xia, the Canadian comedian, Da Shan (Mark Henry Rowswell), Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of New South Wales, Jin Jiang, and the famous performing artist, Xiao Xiangyu. In the second round, five winners of the Continent Championships each made a 30-second final speech to win the World Championship. One hundred members of the public jury then voted for their favorite. The World Champion was chosen by the result of summing up the first round scores and the audience’s votes.
The prizes included Confucius Institute Scholarships for degree programs in China and for Chinese language courses in China.
On July 6th, this year’s competition opened in Changsha with 123 excellent contestants from 96 competition divisions in 77 countries showing their Chinese language skills onstage. The “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students is a worldwide language competition organized annually by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) since 2002. The competition is divided into two parts, the preliminaries abroad and the competitions in China. Over the past 12 years, it has attracted nearly 300 thousand overseas students from over 80 countries to participate, among them are 1100 students who eventually came to China competing in the semi-finals and grand finals. It has become a window for the general public to learn about the fruits of Chinese language promotion efforts abroad. It has also served as a bridge between China and the world, sowing the seeds of friendship worldwide.