Feature: Chinese language competition shows China-UK people-to-people exchange boom

The 15th UK Regional Competition of "Chinese Bridge" was held Saturday night at the Royal Geographical Society, 10 contestants from British universities showed their great language-learning talent.

With the theme of "Dreams enlighten the future", the competition was consisted of three parts: a three-minute speech, two-minute Q&A and three-minute artistic performance. Ten contestants in the final showed their passion of learning Chinese and knowledge of China on the stage.

Thomas Edward Crowe, a student from the University of Sheffield, whose Chinese name is Wu Miao, used classical Chinese ancient poems to express his remembrance of those days he was in Nanjing. Anna Aleksandra Moilanen, from the University of Aberdeen, shared her special story of being a super star at a musical festival in China.

Jamie Curtis Osei-Antwi, a student of the University of Nottingham, told his thoughts about his live by combining hip-hop with Chinese poems.

Meanwhile, University of Leeds student Giovanni Battista Baffetti quoted some popular Chinese terms, such as the 13th Five-Year Plan, Belt and Road initiative, in his speech.

One of the most eye-catching contestant on Saturday evening was SOAS University of London student Jackson Ronnie Swinhoe, whose Chinese name is Wen Jie. He said he became a fan of Peking Opera when he studied in China and in his performance part, he performed Yang Zirong, a famous character in classical Peking Opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and sang a short part of opera, which won applause and hails from the audience.

Wen Jie finally won the Grand Prize and was awarded as China's Tourism Ambassador in Britain by China National Tourism Administration.

Laurence Andrew James Heyes (He Anjie) from SOAS, University of London won the First Prize, University of Leeds students Giovanni Battista Baffetti and Yumeka Nosaka gained the Second Prize. The top four winners will represent Britain to participate in the worldwide Chinese Bridge competition in China.

"It was beyond my expectation, I cannot believe that I won the Grand Prize," Wen Jie told Xinhua. He said the best ways to improve Chinese is to read more Chinese books, watch more Chinese series and listen to Chinese music, and the most important thing is to make more Chinese friends.

Michel Hockx, chief judge of the competition, who is professor of Chinese, Department of the Languages and Cultures in China and Inner Asia, SOAS, University of London, told Xinhua that the competition was the most wonderful competition he has seen.

"Their language levels are much higher than those contestants in previous competitions, and their performances are so good that we judges made very difficult decisions to give them different awards," said Hockx.

Currently, an increasing number of Britons are learning Chinese, and their ages also become younger. People now have more opportunities to go to China, and that helps a lot in their speaking abilities, he added.

According to statistics released by the British government, more than 200,000 Britons are learning Chinese, while the number is expected to double in 2020.

Meanwhile, there are 29 Confucius Institutes and 126 Confucius Classrooms across Britain. Those facts indicated that China-UK people-to-people exchanges are getting closer, which is an important sign that the China-UK relationship is in the golden era, said Shen Yang, Minister Counsellor for Education at the Chinese Embassy. Endit