On May 11th, jointly sponsored by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the State of Israel and Tel Aviv University, the Israeli Preliminary Contest of the 11th "Chinese Bridge" - Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students was held in Tel Aviv University. 10 competitors from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University took part in the competition with the theme of "My Chinese Dream". By showing their personal talent, the competitors respectively expressed their sweet Chinese dreams in fluent Chinese. What the competitors showed in the competition won warm applause from about 150 judges, teachers, students, friends and relatives of the competitors. H.E. Mme. GAO Yanping, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the State of Israel, and Counselor SHI Yong awarded the first and second prizes to the winners.
Ambassador Gao Yanping awards the Fisrt Prize to Shahaf Langleben
Pure and Sweet "Chinese Dreams"
By expressing themselves clearly and fluently in Chinese, the 10 competitors told their touching stories of learning Chinese and experiencing Chinese culture. One competitor said that he has been interested in the Chinese martial arts since his childhood. He often imitates the skills of Chinese Kungfu which are shown in TV or films. When he grew up, he paid a special visit to China for learning Kungfu from Chinese masters and realized his long cherished dream of learning Chinese martial arts in China. Another competitor showed his unique interest in Chinese food, especially Sichuan Hotpot. He hopes that he could run an authentic restaurant of Sichuan Hotpot in Israel. A girl competitor, who was fascinated by playing musical instrument and singing Chinese folk songs, preferred translating the words of songs from Chinese into Hebrew so as to enable the local people to enjoy the charm of Chinese folk songs. One of the competitors called Shahaf Langleben said in his conclusion, "By learning the Chinese language, I would like to become the Ambassador of the State of Israel to the People's Republic of China in the future for making great contribution of enhancing the friendship between the peoples of China and Israel." Wonderful speeches delivered by all the competitors won warm applause from the audience.
Ambassador Gao Yanping awards the Fisrt Prize to Avital Rom
Fully Showing Their Artistic Talent
In the round of displaying their artistic skills, the competitors showed their talents of playing musical instruments, singing, dancing and other kinds of performances. One competitor demonstrated the ways of Chinese cooking while explaining kitchen utensils, vegetables and ingredients in Chinese. The second competitor recited a piece of ancient Chinese poem in the narrative form of Beijing Opera. Another competitor played Chinese music with a flute. A girl competitor displayed her hand-made smart bag which was made of Chinese silk brocade. On the two sides of the bag, the words of Dream in both Chinese and Hebrew languages were meticulously embroidered. Another girl competitor staged her Dance of Peacock. A boy competitor even skillfully imitated the dubbings of different roles in a Chinese film. A girl competitor who was called Avital Rom wore Qipao, a kind of typical Chinese clothes, and brought her lovely harp together with her to the competition venue. She translated the words of the song of Serenade on Green Island, one popular Chinese love song, from Chinese into Hebrew in advance and showed the bilingual words on the big screen through projector. While playing her harp, she sang the song respectively in Chinese and Hebrew. The audience was deeply moved by the touching melody of the song and her sweet singing. Her wonderful performance was praised highly and won the top scores of the artistic talent of the competitors.
Counselor Shi Yong awards the Second Prize to the winner
Enjoying Happiness together with Teachers, Relatives and Friends
After the fierce competition and careful appraisal by the judge, the final result showed that Shahaf Langleben and Avital Rom, two students from Tel Aviv University, won the first prizes. They have got the chance to go to China for participating in the 11th "Chinese Bridge" - Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students this July. On noticing the result of winning the first prize, Avital Rom was wild with joy and her eyes were filled with happy tears. She hugged her Chinese teacher emotionally for expressing her sincere thanks to her teacher. Shahaf Langleben, another first prize winner of the competition, was requested to take photos together with the audience and became so popular as if he had become the best film star. Those competitors who were not able to win any prizes did not feel disappointed. They expressed their happiness to learn Chinese because they had obtained lots of knowledge about the Chinese culture. They also hoped that they would have more language skill training and try their best to take part in the Chinese language competition next year.
While playing the harp, Avital Rom is singing a Chinese folk song.
Keeping an Eye on Chinese Bridge and Pursuing Chinese Dream
"Chinese Bridge" has become a bridge of communication and friendship between the peoples of China and the rest of the world. The 10 competitors in the Israeli preliminary contest came from different families and regions. Though their experience of learning Chinese language and culture differed from person to person, "Chinese Bridge" - Chinese Proficiency Competition offered them a platform for taking part in, learning from each other and exchanging views of learning Chinese. What they had expressed in their speeches in the competition did reflect obviously the careful instructions from their Chinese teachers, encouragement from their relatives and friends, and their persistent pursuing of their "Chinese Dream".
A winner hugs emotionally with her Chinese teacher
On witnessing this preliminary contest of Chinese, the students, teachers, relatives and friends of those competitors said that it was very nice to decorate the venue with Chinese Knots and big red lanterns, play traditional Chinese music and display the national flags of China and Israel for creating the atmosphere of Chinese culture and showing the friendship between the peoples of both countries. Another good impression which was left upon them was that the judge members were consisted of Chinese scholars, veteran reporters and diplomats from the Chinese Embassy in Israel. During the whole process of their appraisal, all the members of the judge acted fairly and the audience was quite satisfied with result presented by the judge.
Shahaf Langleben's enthusiastic supporters at the venue of the competition
Chinese language has been selected by the Israeli government as one of the testing-subjects of foreign languages taught in middle schools and universities in Israel. At present, more and more students start learning Chinese. They pay close attention to the "Chinese Bridge" - Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students. By learning Chinese, they try to experience the broad and profound Chinese culture by themselves for achieving their long-cherished Chinese dreams.