Feature: Colombian student wins chance to compete in Chinese Bridge contest

Colombian Santiago Hincapie Alvarez, 19, has won his country's Chinese Bridge competition for a chance to travel to China and compete in the global contest.

The annual competition awards top foreign students of Mandarin Chinese with a chance to study in China and improve their language skills.

Hincapie, who studies at the Confucius Institute of Medellin, defeated three other students during a contest Friday at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogota (UTADEO), that included oral and written exams, and taking questions from a panel of judges on China and its culture.

Hincapie won a one-year scholarship to study in China, and the chance to compete in a Latin American final in the lead up to the global finale of Chinese Bridge.

The contest was jointly organized by the Chinese Embassy in Bogota and the UTADEO Confucius Institute.

Chinese Ambassador Li Nianping told Xinhua that he was amazed by the competitors' language skills and the growing interest among Colombians in learning Mandarin, as well as the number of universities keen to host a Confucius Institute.

"Now that there are more young people interested in studying Chinese and learning about Chinese culture, I am sure that there will be more people who understand our knowledge and our culture, and they are going to become promoters of that culture and of bilateral ties," said Li.

Li said he expected the friendship between Colombia and China to grow as the number of Colombian Chinese-language learners increases.

"The best way to get to know a country, a people, a nation better is to learn its language," said Li.

Enrique Posada, former director of the UTADEO Confucius Institute, said the language learning center, which has an alliance with the Tianjin Foreign Studies University, is attracting more and more students.

Today, 130 students study at the center, said Posada, with another 70 students sent to three-week study camps in Tianjin, in addition to five students on six-month to one-year scholarships in China.

"Our mission is very clear, and it is to promote the Chinese language not just at the university, but in Bogota and in Colombia. That is our goal ... and we are achieving it little by little," said Posada.

"China is on its way to becoming the leading global power and the opportunities it offers are increasingly greater," he added.

Students can go on to work as translators, either in the field of literature or in the corporate world, which has seen the arrival of Chinese companies in Colombia and other parts of Latin America, and regional companies are increasing their business and trade ties with China, he noted.

Students of international relations, international trade, journalism and diplomacy have also shown interest in studying at the center, said Posada.

The fact that UTADEO accepts Chinese as the second-most accredited foreign language, after English, has also helped boost interest in Mandarin, he said.

Currently, there are some 500 Confucius Institutes in 134 countries around the world. Endi