Feature: A Cuban student's affection for Chinese poems

HAVANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Yinet Ferrer, the first-prize winner of this year's Fifth International Classical Chinese Poetry Recitation Contest in Cuba, said she has been inspired by Chinese poetry.

By presenting "bu suan zi yong mei" or "Ode to the Plum Blossom" in English, one of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong's most famous poems, Ferrer won her entrance into the online contest and kept contesting till the final.

"Even though I have been presented many awards during my student life, none of them makes me prouder than this one," said the third-year Chinese-language student at Cuba's Confucius Institute in Havana.

Ferrer, who works as a psychopedagogue at Jose de la Luz y Caballero High School in Havana's El Cerro district, started to study "Ode to the Plum Blossom" three months prior to the contest.

"Amid the world's present challenges, Chinese poetry has inspired me," Ferrer, 26, told Xinhua. "This poem sends a very strong message of optimism, faith and persistence to overcome obstacles no matter what the circumstances."

She began studying Chinese in 2015, enrolling in a course at the House of Chinese Arts and Traditions in Havana's Chinatown. She said Chinese poetry has unlocked vast knowledge about China's rich culture and its work ethics.

"I want to write a novel on the Chinese presence in Cuba, but that is a future plan," she said. "For the moment, I am very much enjoying the prize."

Over the past few years, the study of the Chinese language and culture has been on the rise in Cuba thanks to the work of social organizations and institutions such as the Confucius Institute, which has seen thousands of students graduate since its founding in 2009.

Chinese language professor Chang Xiaoyu told Xinhua that poetry continues to be an effective tool for teaching China's extensive history.

"Chinese poems transmit the beauty of our language, which effectively constitutes a platform to promote our values, principles and philosophy of life," Chang said.