A group photo of the delegates with seven contestants after the announcement of the winners in Chinese Bridge Competition. (Photo: Bishal Shrestha, SATV)
SATV, Kathmandu, May 20: A total of seven Nepalese college students on Friday fiercely contested in the final round of the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" language proficiency competition in Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management, Kathmandu.
Kathmandu University of Confucius Institute organised the event while it was hosted by Chinese Embassy. The event generally held to test participant’s chinese language proficiency and IQ level, was successfully organised with three different level of competitions: keynote speech, knowledge quiz and talent show.
Participants also featured speeches on "One World-One Family", in which they shared their visions through their own experiences on the journey of learning Chinese language and preparing for the competition. Among them, the speech of Monica Kandel from Nepal Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management was successful to win the first position. She said that learning Chinese opened a door for her to understand China and that the world is our common home where people of all countries join hands to make this Earth a better home. In the talent show, she recited the famous Chinese writer Zhu Ziqing's prose "Spring," with fluent language and standard pronunciation.
In addition to the speech, the talent show of the contestants was also a highlight of the competition. They performed Chinese songs, poems and martial arts to show their mastery and passion for the diversity of Chinese culture. In particular, Rajin Chyame from Shaolin Kung Fu school in Kathmandu showed off Shaolin Kung Fu to everyone and won aopplause from the scene. His father was a martial arts coach who had studied at the Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain, Henan Province. He heard from his father that people from different countries practiced martial arts together, ate Chinese food together and learned Chinese together. This is the embodiment of "we are the world."
After the competition, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal His Excellency Chen Song delivered a warm speech. First, he expressed his gratitude to the organizations and institutions that have made positive contributions to this event and the judges. He said that learning Chinese is a happy process, a key to understanding the ancient civilization and the development of science and technology. China has a long history and culture of 5000 years, four great inventions, China's science and technology used to lead the world. Although in modern times China fell behind, he used the Chinese space station and Huawei as examples to explain the Nepalese audience that China is now definitely ahead in all fields of science and technology.
Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal, and he hoped that everyone would put forward good suggestions to jointly celebrate this wonderful year and open up a new future for China-Nepal relations.
After careful selection by several professional judges, one first prize, one second prize and three third prizes were finally selected. The first prize winner will go to China to participate in the "Chinese Bridge" final of the Chinese Proficiency Competition for College Students and have the opportunity to receive a scholarship from the Confucius Institute in China.
The success of the "Chinese Bridge", a Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students in Nepal has not only provided a platform for Chinese learners and enthusiasts in Nepal to show themselves but also deepened the mutual understanding and friendship between the people of China and Nepal. Through such cultural exchanges, more and more Nepalese youths are attracted to learn Chinese which not only cultivates talents for future cooperation and exchanges between the two countries but also builds a bridge for enhancing mutual understanding and friendly relations between the two people.
Some other glimpses of the event captured by the lenses of SATV:
