Students of the Humanities Institute of NSU have advanced to the all-Russian stage of the international contest “Bridge of the Chinese Language”

On April 26, a regional stage of the international competition “Bridge of the Chinese Language” took place in Yekaterinburg for students and schoolchildren studying the Chinese language. At the jubilee 25th event ofHumanitarian Institute (HI) of NSUparticipated:Aleksey Gutov, a 3rd-year student of the ‘Oriental Studies’ program,Elena GrishinaиEkaterina Zarechneva, female students of the 3rd and 4th year in the field of “Linguistics”.

Participants of the regional stage in Yekaterinburg necessarily had to prepare a speech on the topic “The whole world is one family,” pass a test on knowledge of the Chinese language and culture, and also prepare a creative performance. Thus, the jury highly appreciated the musical performance by Ekaterina Zarechneva and the graceful and elegant dance “Lo Chun Fu” by Elena Grishina. And Alexey Gutov recited a poem by Tan Li Bo “Raising a Glass of Wine” and for his excellent performance received the audience choice award and second place in the competition.

—There were many spectators in the hall, and they were all listening very attentively. After the performance, a Chinese woman, a teacher at the Confucius Institute of UrFU, approached me, tears were in her eyes. I asked why she was crying, and she replied that my performance had touched her so deeply. She also said it was very wonderful that Russians feel Chinese literature so well.— sharedAlexey.

For Alexey, this is not the first competition; he has previously participated in many other contests in Chinese, such as calligraphy, film dubbing, poem recitation, essay competitions in Chinese, and many other activities offered by the Confucius Institutes in Novosibirsk. Elena is a regular participant in Chinese language competitions. “Bridge of the Chinese Language” became her first such competition and she immediately won first place and advanced to the All-Russian stage.

—In addition to the first place, I also received the prize in the nomination “For the best knowledge” — I was awarded the highest score among all participants at this stage, where language and culture knowledge are tested. This was the most difficult part of the competition, so this award became a great joy and surprise! The competition is not yet over for me, but it has already given me a lot of new knowledge, skills, emotions, and acquaintances. At first, it seems that something impossible is demanded from you, — it is very frightening that nothing will work out. But it is precisely where the comfort zone ends that development begins. In the end, I realized that I can do much more than it seems.Thanks to determination, persistence, and, of course, the support of my teacher! She was exactly my mentor on the way to victory and continues to help me prepare for the upcoming all-Russian stage., — toldElena.

Now Elena and Alexey face the all-Russian stage in Saint Petersburg, on which it depends whether the students will advance to the final in China. Its format is very similar to the format of the regional round, but now the language and culture questions will become even more complex and diverse, requiring participants to have very deep knowledge, practically at the level of native speakers. The five best participants of the all-Russian stage will go to China to compete for first place in the international competition.

—Almost all the time was spent on constant memorization of a large amount of information. Preparation for the regional stage took about two months, and for the next stage less time, but even more material. The competition itself turned out to be very exhausting, but at the same time left pleasant impressions thanks to excellent organization and atmosphere. The most difficult thing was to cope with the excitement and not panic during the performance, and it was especially joyful that it was successful, — addedAlexey.