Israel holds 21st "Chinese Bridge" language competition

JERUSALEM, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The 21st "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition for Israeli university students was held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Thursday.

Four students from three universities participated in the first offline contest since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final, under the theme of "One World One Family," consisted of three parts: keynote speech, knowledge quiz, and talent show.

Yonatan Brusser from the Hebrew University won the first place, followed by Eyal Eliezer from UIBE-Israel, an overseas campus of China's University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).

The "Chinese Bridge" has been promoting China-Israel friendship and mutual understanding over the past years, said Minister-Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Israel Dai Yuming in his speech.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Israel diplomatic ties, noted Dai, expressing his hope that more Israeli young people could help boost the bilateral ties via learning Chinese.

Han Xi, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the Hebrew University, told Xinhua that the Confucius Institute has been providing a platform for cultural exchange and promoting Chinese language learning by hosting the "Chinese Bridge" competition and other activities.