“Chinese Bridge Competition” is a proficiency competition for students of Chinese language and culture in secondary schools and universities.

The winners of the national competition in the Kingdom of Norway will be offered fully sponsored trips to compete in the international competition held in China. After competing in the international competition, the winning participants will be awarded scholarships to study in China.

The Chinese Bridge Competition in Norway is organized annually by the Confucius Institute in Bergen (CIB).

Below are the updated regulations and competition guidelines for the year of 2020. The regulations apply to the preliminary and national competition in Norway.

I. Purpose

The main purposes of holding this competition are,

- to promote and improve the understanding of Chinese language and culture in Norway.

- to motivate students to improve their language skills and offer a platform for contact and communication between students learning Chinese language and culture in Norway.

The national competition in Norway aims at selecting candidates for the International Chinese Bridge to be held in China.

II. Divisions and requirements of participation in the Competition

The competition is divided into two divisions:

-The division for secondary school students aged 15 to 20;

-The division for college and university students aged 18 to 30.

Within each division there will be only one level regardless of the competitors’ age and the number of years they have been studying Chinese.

All students intending to join the competition must be attending a school or college/ university in Norway. Further they must be born and raised outside China and have a nationality and mother tongue other than Chinese (both parents must have a mother tongue other than Chinese).

For the 2020 the competition the following themes must be used for each of the two divisions:

For secondary school students, the theme is "Fly high with Chinese”.（追梦中文，不负韶华）

For college and university students, the theme is “One World, One Family”. (天下一家).

III. The Competition Rounds and Competition Content

1. The Preliminary Competition

All competitors are required to fill out registration form before the deadline.

All competitors are requested to upload a video file of their one-minute speech and a two minutes talent performance at Google Drive before 11^th April 2020. The designated email address for uploading is norwaycbc2020@gmail.com.

Based on the performance on the video recordings, the CIB will select and invite the best competitors to compete in the national competition. Those selected will receive subsidized travel to the location of the Norwegian national competition. Invitations will be sent out no less than 3 weeks before the National Competition. The invitation will provide details about the competition; location, schedule etc.

Contents of the Preliminary Competition

The one-minute video recording must include a brief self-introduction and speech. The speech must be based on the competition theme. The two minutes talent performance must show artistic skills related to Chinese culture or native folk culture making use of participant’s acquired Chinese language and culture skills.

2. The National Competition

At the national competition, the competitors are required to give the following live performances:

Item 1 - Speech in Chinese (without manuscript, one minute):

The speech should be related to the theme of the competition and be related to knowledge of Chinese language and culture, etc.

Item 2 - Chinese Talent Performance (two minutes for each competitor):

The performance must be related to one of the following themes: China’s songs, dances, folk arts, musical instruments, calligraphy, painting, paper-cutting and martial art, etc. The competitors also can show their native folk culture making use of their acquired Chinese language and culture skills.

Note: For the talent performance competitors can bring partners, but every competitor should also do an independent talent performance. Thus, one cooperative performance cannot be counted as a talent performance for two or more competitors. In case a cooperative performance has been done, each competitor must in addition do an individual performance limited to two minutes.

Item 3 - Answering questions (four questions):

Each competitor will answer four questions related to Chinese language and Chinese culture.

Note: Relevant references materials can be found at http://www.hanban.org/chinesebridge/

For items 1 and 2 the competitors shall perform one after the other in each division in an order drawn in public by the host before the competition starts. Item 3 will be performed by each competitor right after performing item 2.

Judging and Scoring System

The organizers of the event are responsible for selecting qualified judges. Each division shall have at least five judges.

The judges are responsible for ranking the competitors in accordance with the scoring criteria made public in this regulation.

No judge can be allowed to rank his or her own students.

The judges will score the competitors right after each performance. The score of the performance will be shown at the same time by all five judges at the call of the head judge/secretary.

A head judge/secretary named by the organizers will be responsible for recording the scores given by the judges. The highest and the lowest scores shall then be eliminated and the three remaining scores shall be added together and then divided by three to give each competitor’s score.

IV. Prizes

Secondary School Students Division

The Champion of the Secondary School Students Division (one student) will win the opportunity to join the Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for foreign secondary school students that will be held in China during October to November.

All the expenses, which include international flight tickets, domestic travelling within China, accommodation and accident insurance in China, will be covered by Confucius Institute Headquarters except the visa application fee, medical insurance and international travel insurance covered by the competitors themselves. In addition, they will win at least one semester scholarship to study in China based on their performance in the final competition in China. The awarded scholarship will have validity for up to 3 years.

Encouragement: The second-place winner of the Secondary School Students Division will be given the opportunity to observe the competition in China. However, the participant will have to cover the related expenses.

College and University Students Division

The first-place winner (one student) of the College and University Students Division will be given the opportunity to join the “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students that will be held in China during July to August.

All the expenses, which include international flight tickets, domestic travelling within China, accommodation and accident insurance in China, will be covered by Confucius Institute Headquarters except the visa application fee, medical insurance and international travel insurance covered by the competitors themselves. In addition, they will win at least one semester scholarship to study in China based on their performance in the final competition in China. The awarded scholarship will have validity for up to 3 years.

Encouragement: The second-place winner of the College and University Students Division will be given the opportunity to observe the competition in China. However, the competitor will have to cover the related expenses.

Note:

Those that have attended the Chinese Bridge Competition in China will not be allowed to enter the competition in China before two years have passed. However, they are still welcomed to compete in the national competition.