The winner of the 2017 French language contest by CGTN

The 2017 competition for Chinese French language speakers organized by China Global Television Network, CGTN Français, held on September 26 in the channel’s recording studio in the Chinese capital, Beijing. This year’s winner of “Les As du Français” was Zhang Bisi, a female Chinese journalist who read journalism in Lille, France and did industrial attachment with the famous French newspaper, “Le Monde.”

French language lecturer

Bisi later returned to China and has since been teaching French in a university. Her presentation in the semi-finals, which was held earlier in the day, was based on the works of famous Chinese disabled female poet, Yu Xiuhua. The winner of the second prize was Tan Yaqi, another lady who read Accountancy in France and later founded a “sushi” fast food business. She is fascinated by the cartoon character, Manga, whose roots she traced to China.

Candidates do presentations on any subject concerning Chinese life, backed by video projections. Photo: Kimeng Hilton

The only man, Lu Guanyu, who did a rap son in the semi-finals, came third. A philosophy student in a Chinese university, Guanyu, 19 – the youngest in the competition - did the song paying tribute to Chinese philosophy researchers. Final results of the contest were announced by the head of the five-person jury, Mauritius Ambassador to China, André Lee Kon Chong. Other members of the jury were Jacqueline Plessis, the Cultural and Linguistic Attaché at the French Embassy in China, Cao Deming, a French language lecturer, Mireille Deyglun, a Canadian comedian and Zheng Ruolin from CGTN Français.

Foreign travel as prizes

All three winners received trophies and attestations and will travel abroad as recompense for their hard work. The first will travel to Mauritius Island, while the second and third place winners will choose either to travel to France or Quebec in Canada. The fourth, fifth and sixth placed finalists received attestations for their efforts. Sponsors of the prizes were the Quebec Office in China and the French and Mauritius Embassies in China.

In all, 10 competitors took part in the semi-finals and four were eliminated. Those who qualified for the finals were Lu Guanyu, 125 points, Tan Yaqi, 104 points, Liu Hao, 98 points, Zhang Shuwen, 95 points, Zhang Bisi, 95 points and Zhao Tian, 80 points. The 10th placed candidate had 74 points.

The ranking of competitors at the end of the semi-finals. Photo: Kimeng Hilton

Content of contest

During the semi-finals, there was a short video introduction of each candidate, and then their presentation on a topic related to Chinese life – also backed by background video footage – and a question from one of the two hosts. Two members of the jury later gave their appreciation of the candidate’s performance before asking questions. This phase was concluded with each jury member evaluating the candidate electronically and results shown on the giant screens in the CGTN recording studio.

Speaking in French, Wang Botao, a producer with CGTN Français and “Les As du Français” contest, said the French language competition began in 2013 and was organised by the then CCTV Français, now CGTN Français. Competitors are Chinese young men and women who have studied and speak French.

“The competition is doing very well and has kept improving over the years. At the beginning, we limited ourselves to candidates based in China, but with the partnership with France, we have been getting talents from abroad. I hope the competition will continue to grow in popularity,” Botao noted. Describing himself as “a great admirer and daily user of the French language,” Wang Botao said he has been working for the Francophonie cause and the strengthening of ties between China and the Francophone world.

Talents for recruitment

“We have recruited one person since 2013, a lady who is today a presenter with CGTN. She participated in the first competition in 2013. The level of the participants this year was very high. We hope to recruit some of them. But it all depends on them, especially those living abroad - if they will accept to return home and work for us,” Wang Botao, the brain behind the contest, explained.

According to him, “Les As du Francais” is a good example of young Chinese French language speakers showing their desire to facilitate exchanges between China and the Francophone world. He expressed hope that the project will continue, have better competitors and more international media coverage.

All the 10 competitors assemble at the end of the semi-finals. Photo: Kimeng Hilton

Foreign collaboration

Meanwhile, CGTN paid the air tickets of candidates based abroad - just like it took charge of the transport of all competitors. This year’s competition began on March 20 on the occasion of the International Day of the Francophonie. A team of four led by Wang Botao later travelled to France and Quebec in Canada, picking out the candidates and filming their profiles. The Chinese delegation collaborated with Radio Canada and TV 5 Monde in France who helped in filming candidates’ introductory presentations.

CCTV Français, now CGTN Français, was founded in 2004. It has an audience of 30 million homes in Europe, the Maghreb, other French-speaking countries in Africa, Canada, etc.

The audience watch with keen attention as competitors displayed their talents. Photo: Kimeng Hilton

*Kimeng Hilton Ndukong, a contributor to People’s Daily Online, is Sub-Editor for World News with Cameroon Tribune bilingual daily newspaper in Cameroon. He is currently a 2017 China-Africa Press Centre, CAPC fellow.