2017 16th Chinese Bridge Preliminary Competition in Ghana

Grand Prize winner receiving award from the Political Counselor at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Jiang Zhouteng

The Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana on Friday 7th April, 2017 organized the 16th Chinese Bridge Preliminary competition in Ghana.

Chinese Bridge is a Chinese proficiency competition held annually for non-Chinese college students.  It aims at arousing the enthusiasm of students in various countries to learn Chinese and strengthen the world's understanding of Chinese language and culture. It is well known in the cultural and educational exchanges worldwide. It is a large-scale international contest sponsored by the Confucius Institute Headquarters/ Hanban.

This year’s competition which marks the 4th held by the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana featured 18 contestants from five different tertiary institutions namely University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Cape Coast, Kumasi Technical University and Wisconsin University College. After a pre-preliminary qualifying contest which took place on the 17th of March, 2017, 10 contestants attained qualifying certificates for the final contest.

For the contestants, this contest aims at creating a platform for them to, showcase their abilities, exchange ideas, inspire their interests, and support their passion for Chinese language and culture as stated by the Chinese Director, Dr. Meilian Mei in her welcome address.

Panel of Judges  

Focusing on the Topic “Dreams Enlighten the Future”, the final contest was made up of  Four (4) segments; a written test, a speech followed by questions from the Judges, a Chinese cultural display and a Ghanaian cultural presentation. The competition was very colourful and contestants dazed the over 200 audience with diverse performances ranging from Beijing Opera to Chinese Martial Art. After intense competitionwhich displayed solid Chinese language skills and outstanding talents, a level 400 student from the University of Ghana, Mr Joseph Edward Yawson won the Grand prize of an all-expense paid trip to participate in the final global contest in China as the representative of Ghana. In addition, like his predecessors if he performs well, he could earn a Confucius Institute scholarship for a two year master’s degree program. He said excitedly: “This is my second time of participating in the Chinese Bridge contest, and I’m very happy to have won the Grand Prize this time. I’m going to start preparing immediately for the global contest so I can get a good position for the glory of Ghana, the Confucius Institute and the University of Ghana. He went on further to say in Chinese “不经历风雨,怎能见彩虹” meaning ‘if you do not experience the rainstorm, how can you see the rainbow'.  He believes that “as long as there is unremitting efforts, there will be a reward.”

Mr. Gao Jian, General Manager of Chungmin (Ghana) Investment Group, donated GH10, 000 Cedi (approximately¥16, 000) to the Confucius Institute at Ghana University at the event to encourage more Ghanaian students to learn Chinese.

Some of the dignitaries who graced the occasion were the Political Counselor at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Jiang Zhouteng, the Provost of the College of Humanities of the University of Ghana, Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah, the President of Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Ghana Association of Chinese companies as well as Chairman of the CAITEC Group, Mr. Tang Hong, the President of Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mr.Gao Jian, the Vice President Ghana Association of Chinese Societies and Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Huang Jingzhi, as well at the Directors of the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana, Dr. Meilian Mei and Dr. Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie.

 

Performances during the competition