The 12th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students was held in Zhengzhou from 18^th Oct. to 2^nd Nov. 2019. 264 teachers and students from 119 divisions of 105 countries participated in it. The contestant Anine Aksne and observer Philip Alsager, both from Confucius Institute in Bergen, participated in the competition with the leader teacher He Jiqing.

The first round of the competition included a Chinese language and cultural knowledge test, speech and Q&A，and talent performance. Although the Chinese language and cultural knowledge test is super difficult, Anine still did a great job since her knowledge of characters is really good, and she got help from the teacher and trainee teachers from CIB. We are very glad to see that her result is much better than the result of last year. Anine answered very fluently during the Q&A part, she told the judges that she used to be very shy and introverted, but learning Chinese has brought her huge changes. In the talent performance part, Anine recited a beautiful poem“Farewell to Cambridge”, her standard pronunciation, delicate and emotional expressions won her full applause.

Apart from the intensive competitions, the contestants and observers also visited Beijing, Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. They visited the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Confucius Institute headquarters, two different middle schools in Zhengzhou etc, which helped them got better a understanding of Chinese history and culture. At the same time this helped them make many friends that have the same interests from the whole world. Learning Chinese, creating a brighter future!

Contestant: Anine Aksnes, from Confucius Institute in Bergen & Amalie Skram high school

Observer: Philip Alsager, from Confucius Institute in Bergen & Amalie Skram high school

Photo & text: He Jiqing, Chinese language teacher of Confucius Institute in Bergen & Amalie Skram high school & Beijing Sport University