There’s nothing really unusual about a teenager hosting an event, another pair performing a skit, and several others facing an audience and delivering a speech, but it would be spectacular to note that foreign students carried them out not in their mother tongue but in Chinese.
China has been successfully exporting its language and culture in different parts of the world for many years now through the efforts of Confucius Institute, which further promotes Chinese language learning by holding sessions, contests and similar activities yearly.
The 9th National Chinese Language Conference was held in Chicago, Illinois, on April 28-30.
With the theme, “Ambassadorship in Action,” Steven Koch, deputy mayor of Chicago, said that he was “stunned” by the performances, according to People's Daily Online.
Boston University student Henry Knight joined his Chinese teacher Wu Man on stage to play the four-stringed Chinese musical instrument pipa. Calmeca Academy of Fine Arts and Dual Language students presented a Chinese dance and those from the Northside College Preparatory High School rendered a Mongolian song.
Xu Lin, Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Xicheng District, Beijing, delivered a speech during the opening ceremony, which 16-year-old American high-school student Claire Fuschi hosted in Chinese, reported Xinhua.
Fuschi, who picked “Fang Tingting” to be her Chinese name, attends the Walter Payton College Prep High School in Chicago. The school’s World Language Department offers Chinese, French, Latin and Spanish.
Apparently the young girl enrolled in the Chinese class along with 120 students has been studying the language for nearly 11 years now.
The annual Chinese Bridge Proficiency Competition, now on its 15th year, generally tests participants’ Chinese language and cultural skills. Confucius Institutes abroad conduct the preliminary rounds and top winners fly to China to compete in the final round.
This year’s theme is “Dreams Enlighten the Future,” according to CCTV News.
The Confucius Institute also holds a yearly Chinese speech contest.
The Confucius Institute at University of Massachusetts Boston organized the 11th Chinese Bridge Speech Contest for U.S. High School Students and the 6th Chinese Bridge Speech Contest for University Students in New England on March 19 and April 16, respectively, according to the school’s website.
“This Chinese Bridge Speech Contest is a good showcase for us to see American students’ success in learning Chinese language and culture,” said Yongji Xu, Consulate General of China in New York.
Yongji added: “I hope all the participants will further utilize their language skills, so to make contributions to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the two leading countries.”
With the theme “China and Me” serving as a guide, 21 students from 15 universities delivered a 3-4-minute speech during the 6th Chinese Bridge Speech Contest, according to Bowdoin College’s website. Bowdoin representatives performed a xiangsheng or crosstalk.
“It was a fun competition . . . great to meet some students studying Chinese from other colleges and universities,” said Eduardo Jaramillo from Bowdoin.
The Confucius Institute, a government-funded Chinese center for language teaching and research founded in 2004, boasts of numerous branches worldwide: 147 in Asia, 48 in Africa, 33 in South America, 40 in North America (460 in the U.S.), 307 in Europe and 65 in Oceania, according to its website.
In Dec. 2015, Xinhua reported that according to Wang Yongli, Deputy Director-General of Hanban and Deputy Chief Executive of Confucius Institute Headquarters, Confucius Institutes across the globe catered to 1.9 million people studying Chinese language and culture.