Central New Zealand students compete for Chinese proficiency

WELLINGTON, May 18 (Xinhua) -- University and secondary school students from the southern region of New Zealand's North Island competed for Chinese proficiency in the annual "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition held on Saturday.

Around 100 local Chinese learners watched the competition among 18 contestants, learning Chinese as their foreign language, vying for spots for the global finals to be held later in China.

The competition consisted of theme speech, talent show and improvisation quiz. The contestants talked about their relationship with the Chinese language, demonstrating their language proficiency and knowledge of Chinese culture. During the talent show, contestants performed Chinese stand-up comedy, recitation of ancient poems, Chinese folk dance, musical instruments, among others.

Rodda Lachlan from Rotorua won the high school category, and Phoebe Davey from the Victoria University of Wellington won the university category. Both of them grabbed the opportunity to the global finals in China.

At the prize-giving ceremony, Tang Yun, education counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, encouraged the students to continue to explore the beauty of the Chinese language, gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and build a bridge of friendship between China and New Zealand.

Students should cultivate the spirit of diversity and inclusiveness and the ability of cross-cultural communication through learning the Chinese language, Tang said.

Tony Browne, a former ambassador to China, said to Xinhua that the work of the Confucius Institute doing is important, especially in terms of building up a knowledgeable country given the importance of the Chinese language in the world.

Chinese teaching is very important not only to the New Zealand-China relationship, but also to the better understanding among diversified communities in the country, Tony said.

Roger Shew from Victoria University of Wellington said that the competition is a stage for New Zealand Chinese learners to show their own style, serving as a platform to appreciate the charm of the language, as well as a channel to promote people-to-people friendship.