16th Chinese proficiency competition held in Ethiopia

The 16th edition of Chinese proficiency competition for foreign college students was held on Saturday in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

The annual competition dubbed Chinese Bridge is held every year with participating students from different universities of the East African country. Outstanding performers would participate in the international competition held in China.

Organized by the Confucius Institute and sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, the contest has attracted university students who made various presentations and performances to show their skills and talents.

Speaking on the occasion, Zelalem Leyew, Dean of the College of Humanities, Languages, Journalism and Communication of the Addis Ababa University, hailed the annual competition.

Stating that many African scholars and students speak Chinese language nowadays, Leyew noted that the language learning need to help achieve desired objectives in quality education and development.

“Mandarin Chinese, not only the language, the Chinese culture and the Chinese … are coming to different African countries. And African university professors and students have a growing interest to learn, open their eyes, whole body, whole mind to learn Chinese language and culture,” he said.

Also in his opening remarks, Yan Xiangdong, Cultural Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said China has worked very hard to promote cultural exchanges and cooperation in education sector.

“In the last several years, the Chinese side worked hard to promote the cultural and educational relations through language teaching as we think the language is an important tool for the understanding and friendship,” he said.

Winning the competition with highest score, Mikias Gebre told Xinhua that he was very happy with his achievement.

“I am very happy to win, to get this opportunity to represent Ethiopia to compete with the other nations. I am very happy,” he said. Enditem

Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh

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