UoN student wins second prize at major Chinese speech competition

From left to right Lufei Zheng, Jenny Heaney and Fangfang Xie

26/6/2023

A postgraduate student from the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies (CLAS) at University of Nottingham, won second prize (professional category) on 23 June at the preliminary London leg of the 22nd Chinese Bridge competition, a prestigious contest in Chinese language proficiency and cultural knowledge for non-native speakers.

Selected and trained by Nottingham Confucius Institute, Jennifer Heaney, competed against 18 other university students selected from over 10 Confucius Institutes in the UK. This is the best result UoN/NCI candidates have achieved at the annual event since 2012. Jennifer and the three other top performers from the competition will go on to represent the UK in the global Chinese Bridge Competition in China later in the year. 

As usual, competitors were required to deliver a speech in Chinese, answer questions about Chinese culture and demonstrate a talent associated with China. Jennifer delivered a fantastic speech ('在华二三事') about her experience in China and answered all the cultural questions perfectly. For the talent show, she played two musical instruments: Guzheng ('White and Blue Porcelain') and Saxophone (‘Mojito’), winning a big round of applause from the audience. Click here to view Jennifer's performance.

Jennifer was coached by NCI teachers Lufei Zheng and Jie Cheng. She didn't start learning to play Guzheng until two months prior to the competition. Her guzheng teachers are two UoN student musicians: Nan Li and Huiyu Zhou. "I am very proud of Jenny, who is not only talented but also has worked tirelessly to achieve this amazing result. I am also extremely proud of her music teachers and the NCI team - none of this would have been possible without joint effort from all!" commented Fangfang Xie, NCI co-director.

 ~ENDS~

喜报！诺丁汉孔院选手珍妮荣获第22届“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛全英大区赛亚军！

2023年6月23日，第22届“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛2023全英大区赛在伦敦举办，共有8位非专业组选手和10位专业组选手进入复赛，参加复赛、决赛的角逐。由诺丁汉大学孔院选送的参赛选手Jennifer Alice Heaney（中文名：珍妮，诺大硕士生）在经过三个小时比拼，最终以专业组亚军的好成绩完成了这次比赛之旅。

本次比赛共分5个环节。复赛涵盖了3分钟自拟命题演讲、5道文化知识问答及3分钟才艺表演。决赛除上述三个环节外，还展示了选手提前做好的2分钟关于“学习中文”的自制小视频和一分钟即兴问答。

在自拟命题演讲中，珍妮以《在华二三事》为题讲述了自己自2017年来到中国，在武汉、成都两地生活的3年期间经历的趣事，感受到的中英文化差异，如从对中国人三餐吃米饭联想到英国人三餐吃土豆从而引发的不理解，到如今成为米饭爱好者和中华美食的粉丝，还在游览中国名胜美景时，引经据典，感慨“蜀道之难，难于上青天”的描写到位。

整场演讲用词地道准确、逻辑缜密、风格幽默风趣，同时也真情流露，真实地展现了珍妮作为一位外国友人在中国学习生活的心路历程。

在才艺表演中，珍妮首先展现了自决定参赛以来苦练古筝的成果，以一曲《青花瓷》俘获了在场观众的心，用“天青色等烟雨，而我在等你”为自己与中文建立更深更浓厚的缘分埋下伏笔。随后画风一转，珍妮又为观众送上一曲萨克斯吹奏的《Mojito》，曲调欢快，调动了全场氛围。

此次比赛的优异结果，离不开选手珍妮用心积极、持之以恒的准备与学习，离不开李楠和周慧宇两位古筝老师的悉心辅导，也离不开诺丁汉孔院中方院长谢芳芳女士，郑露菲、程洁两位辅导老师等全体孔院教师辛勤付出，让我们再次祝贺珍妮取得好成绩！