May 8 the local competition „Chinese Language Bridge“ was held. This year, 4 students and 3 gymnasium students from different regions of Lithuania participated.
In the first part of the competition, university students shared their knowledge of Chinese by presenting a short speech on the topic "One World, One Family". By answering the questions, the students shared their language learning experiences, demonstrated knowledge of Chinese history and culture, and expressed their views on the topic of the competition. Jury and spectators watched different and excellent performances of the popular Chinese folk song "Jazmine", admired Chinese painting on unusual surfaces and watched Chinese food production.
In the student category, the competition was won by Emilija Vilkaitė, a second-year student of Sinology at Vilnius University, who not only demonstrated excellent knowledge of the Chinese language, but also showed her talent in an interesting way - she transferred Chinese painting to nail design.
In the gymnasium subgroup this year's theme "Get high with Chinese" and 3 participants competed in this category. We are happy to have brave high school students who did not hesitate to demonstrate their Chinese language skills, answered questions in Chinese and presented their talents. The first place in this subgroup was won by Goda Vasiliauskaitė, a high school student at the M. K. Čiurlionis National School of Arts, who impressed the members of the jury and the audience with Chinese dance.
This year the competition was held remotely. The guest of the competition, Adviser to the Ambassador Qu Baihua, said in his speech that although the new epidemic is still spreading, it did not affect the enthusiasm of the participants to learn Chinese and did not reduce the desire to learn about Chinese culture. Competitions like this not only reduce the distance between two distant countries, but also strengthen mutual understanding.
Kristina Garalytė, Director of the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies at Vilnius University, was pleased that Chinese language and Chinese culture are becoming more and more popular in Lithuania. Learning foreign languages for young people, especially Chinese and Chinese culture, is a very valuable experience at the beginning of their careers in developing intercultural competences and a different understanding.
We are happy with the young talents and hope that next year we will meet live in the "Chinese Language Bridge" competition.