On the morning of Saturday, 15 October, eight representatives from UIC were loaded up into a van to go compete in the Second Chinese Contest in Zhuhai, organised by Zhuhai City Polytechnic Chinese Test Center, Hanban. UIC showed its quality, with one team taking the first-place prize, and the two others winning third-place prizes.
Competitors came from the UK, Korea, the US, France, Mexico, Russia, the Philippines, and other countries
Jacob Algrim (ELC), Tia Mannix (LRC) and their friend Benjamin Burley-Ward were the first-place winners. They and the third-place winners Tony Dinh (ELC), Jenna Otto (DST), Min Sang Song (DST), Brittany Carciofini (ELC), and Kelly Parker (ELC) celebrated with Candy Cai (Team Organiser, CLC)
The competition aimed to promote the Chinese language and culture by inviting foreigners to face off in a battle of wits and knowledge. Competitors had to tap into their knowledge of Mandarin Chinese and classical Chinese culture in order to win. There were a total of eight teams, each comprised of three members. The origins of competitors were quite diverse, having citizens from Korea, the UK, the US, the Philippines, and others, though all are currently residing in Zhuhai. Representatives from UIC made up three of the eight teams.
Competitors dressed in traditional-style tunics
All competitors, despite being given short notice, were provided with a set of example questions and tongue twisters to help them prepare. The questions ranged from asking about the initials and finals of Mandarin syllables to requiring competitors to identify famous Chinese celebrities and the four great masterpieces of Chinese literature. So throughout the hour and a half long ordeal, competitors were kept on their toes and thinking quickly.
Competitors were challenged to read tongue twisters
The competition was comprised of three rounds. It was conducted entirely in Chinese, so competitors had to constantly make use of their listening and reading skills. During the first round, each team was presented with a question, one by one, and given ten seconds to answer. If answered correctly, they were awarded ten points. During the second round, a question was projected onto a screen and read by the emcee. After that, teams had to race to buzz in for the opportunity to answer. If they were lucky enough to buzz in first and answer the question correctly, they were awarded 20 points. The third and final round was a tongue twister round; each group would randomly choose a number and be presented with a Chinese tongue twister which a representative from their team would then attempt to read. This final round was scored by averaging the decisions of several judges, a perfect score of 80 points.
All in all, the competition proved to be fun for the competitors and audience alike. Afterwards, all competitors and spectators were invited to share in dumpling-making and tea-tasting.
The UIC teams gave special thanks to the Chinese Language and Culture Centre for organising the teams, dispersing study materials, and facilitating group study sessions. They added that they were looking forward to joining the competitions of consecutive years.
From CLC
Reporter: Jacob Algrim (ELC)
Photos provided by Zhuhai City Polytechnic, Candy Cai (CLC)
Editor: Samuel Burgess (MPRO)
