Voyageofdiscovery

An annual language competition has become a unique opportunity for contestants to discover friendship and opportunities

[In China] everything is possible. If you do your best you will achieve your goal. China is the land of dreams for me.

Every summer, youngsters from all around the world flock to Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China. They come to take part in the Hanyu Qiao, or Chinese Bridge, an annual Chinese proficiency competition for foreign college students. The Hanyu Qiao evaluates foreigners’ language proficiency as well as their Chinese cultural knowledge.

From March to June, preliminary screenings were held in different parts of the world and 146 students from 108 countries qualified to participate in the final rounds held in China. Thirty of the finalists were from African countries. The last round of the prestigious competition, broadcast by Hunan TV, was held in Changsha on August 10.

A clear desire to build relationships between people emanated from the 15th edition of the Hanyu Qiao this year. This contest enables not only the participants to create a cultural bridge with Chinese audiences, but also young people worldwide to discover one another’s culture and live an incredible experience together for a month. The group of finalists arrived in Beijing on July 9, then traveled to Hunan where the elimination rounds started, reducing the number of participants to 30 at first and finally to five.

The global presence of the Chinese language competition was reflected by the nationality of the finalists representing five continents: Asia with Hsan Sandar Tun from Myanmar (also called by her Chinese name, Zheng Jiajia); Africa with Egyptian Ahmed Magdy Abdelhamid (Da Wei); Europe with Ukrainian Pavlo Zvenyhorodskyi (Zeng Ziru); America with Andrei Zlotchevski from Canada (An Delie); and Oceania with Australian Sean Patrick Hyatt (Hu Xiao). now Chinese. He still doesn’t know if he wants to live in China or in Canada, but he knows that he has “many opportunities.”

Started in 2002 by the Office of Chinese Language Council International and the Government of Hunan Province, Hanyu Qiao has become the pride of the local people as well as a tool to promote Hunan’s culture and tourism while encouraging students to learn Chinese. And indeed, this province will always be remembered by the contestants.

Asked what he prefers in China, the Egyptian finalist, Abdelhamid, answered without a second thought: “I like choudoufu (“smelly tofu”) from Hunan. It’s really chou (smelly) but it’s very good.” The Cameroonian participant, Sosthene Sedrick Tagne Kamga (Li Ke), even found similarities between Hunan and his home country: “Particularly in the food. Here, in Hunan, they like it when the food is very spicy, very hot. I really enjoy it. They [the people of Hunan] are also welcoming to foreigners, as we are in Cameroon.”