On May 29th, with the support of Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, Confucius Institute at Addis Ababa University Held the Preliminary Round for the 14th “Chinese Bridge”- Chinese Proficiency Competition. 6 contestants participated.

The theme of the contest was “My Chinese Dream”, which included three parts，namely speech on a given topic, quiz about Chinese culture and art performance. In the first part, the contestants talked about their own experiences of learning Chinese language and expressed their passion for Chinese culture. In the quiz round, they were asked questions about Chinese culture and current conditions in China. They answered most of the questions perfectly using fluent Chinese, which won bursts of applause from the audience. In the performance round, the contestants demonstrated their understanding of Chinese culture and art forms in their own ways. Some chose to sing or dance, while others preferred to perform martial art.

Finally, Shi Jie and Zhao Shuai from Chinese Degree Program excelled in the fierce competition, winning the first and second prize respectively and a free trip to China to participate in the final. This was the first time for Ethiopian students to take part in the Chinese Bridge. On behalf of the jury panel, Pan Yuqi, Cultural Counselor of Chinese Embassy, expressed his congratulations to the two winners and hoped they would perform well in the final round held in China.