Chinese helps build bridge with world

"I'm the Alice that is chasing my dream, and the Chinese language is a key that opens the wonderland. The world is jointly fighting against the novel coronavirus pandemic, while Chinese connects the hearts of all language learners all over the world."

So said Elizaveta Docenko, a Moscow student during a speech she made in the final stage of a renowned international competition for foreign students of Chinese.

The competition, known as Chinese Bridge, had been scheduled for earlier this year in Russia, but it was postponed to Sunday due to COVID-19.

Moreover, the final game became a "cloud competition", as all the contestants needed to introduce themselves, deliver a speech, showcase their skills and answer questions from the judges using a camera.

But all the changes and difficulties did not affect these young students' preparation or the competition.

"I started preparation for this competition as soon as I finished my studies in music school last year. During the city lockdown period, I stayed at home and enjoyed Chinese language classes," said Sofia Tipiseva, a 10th-grade student from the No 652 Middle School in St Petersburg.

The 17-year-old girl won the championship at this year's Chinese Bridge Competition, and she will receive a scholarship to study Chinese for a bachelor's degree from a Chinese university.

Tipiseva started learning Chinese in second grade eight years ago. She was also an exchange student in Shanghai in 2018 and lived there for one month, which strengthened her determination to learn Chinese.

"I read lots of Chinese fairy tale books at home during the pandemic, which also attracted my younger brothers and sisters. I read books every day, and one of my sisters, who is only 4 years old, seems to have developed an interest in Chinese, and speaks dozens of Chinese words now," said Tipiseva.

Cultural knowledge

Docenko and Tipiseva are two of the 16 who made it to the finals of Chinese Bridge this year, and they represent the highest level of Chinese language learning by Russian students.

According to the office of educational affairs of the Chinese embassy in Russia, which is the organizer of the competition, Chinese has become more popular in Russia since the language was listed as one of the five foreign languages in Russia's university entrance examination in 2019.

This year, the number of applications for the Chinese Bridge is a record. Only in the Moscow region, there were 146 students who applied, and they impressed the judges with their fluent Chinese and knowledge about China and Chinese culture.

In the preliminary contest, a student from Kazan used the classical idiom "demure as a maiden and quick as a rabbit" to describe his character.

Cao Shihai, minister-counselor at the embassy, said he was glad to see these Russian teenagers talk about their in-depth thoughts about e-commerce, China's high-speed trains, WeChat, Alipay, as well as efforts by the Chinese government to fight the pandemic.

"They know about China, they love Chinese culture, and they want to travel in China after the pandemic," Cao said.