Thirty-four secondary school students from across New Zealand competed for Chinese proficiency in the annual "Chinese Bridge" competition held on Sunday.
A student takes part in the annual "Chinese Bridge" competition in Christchurch, New Zealand, Aug. 8, 2021. Thirty-four secondary school students from across New Zealand competed for Chinese proficiency in the annual "Chinese Bridge" competition held on Sunday. (Photo by Li Xiaogang/Xinhua)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 15 junior high school students and 19 senior high school students participated in the 14th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students via video link.
A student takes part in the annual "Chinese Bridge" competition in Christchurch, New Zealand, Aug. 8, 2021. Thirty-four secondary school students from across New Zealand competed for Chinese proficiency in the annual "Chinese Bridge" competition held on Sunday. (Photo by Li Xiaogang/Xinhua)
The theme of the contest is "Fly High with Chinese". DongZhixue, education counsellor of the Chinese embassy in New Zealand, said at the opening ceremony that the program has been facing a lot of difficulties due to the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic, however , it has still made lots of progress seen from the quantity and quality of contestants in this year's competition. Dong encouraged Chinese learners to become "friendly ambassadors of China-New Zealand people-to-people exchanges", making positive contributions to promoting China-NZ educational exchanges and enhancing friendship between the two countries.
Andrew Turner, Deputy Mayor of Christchurch, said the relationship between China and New Zealand is growing in tourism, education, trade, cultural and people-to-people exchange. "There will definitely be big opportunities in the future for people who have the skills to bridge between New Zealand and China," Turner said. (cited from Center for Language Education and Cooperation, Sources：Xinhua)
