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Tuesday, 28 June 2011

A rich general knowledge of China and high quality public speaking skills have earned a student from The University of Western Australia second place in the national finals of a Mandarin-speaking and performance competition.

Justin Hewett, a third-year student in Asian Studies, was runner-up to Curtin University student Giorgio Beames in the Chinese Bridge Competition, an international contest for students of Mandarin to prove their expertise in general knowledge and cultural understanding as well as the spoken word.

Both students will next month travel to China for the grand finals, to be held in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, in the south of China.

The national finals were held at UWA's Confucius Institute before Chinese Consul General in WA, Ms Wang Yiner.

Judges included Deputy Chinese Consul General Ms Zhang Hong, Dr Mike Nahan MLA and Mr Zhang Jide, Second Secretary (Education Section) of the Chinese Embassy, Canberra.

Eleven students from WA, South Australia and the ACT competed in the finals and were required to complete three categories including a written test, public speech and Chinese cultural performance of their own choosing.

Confucius Centre Director, Associate Professor Philip Kirchlechner said the competition aimed to build bridges between China and Australia and the participants were bridges to improve communication between the two countries.

"We hope that the competition will encourage more students to learn Chinese and that WA will continue to promote and develop the learning and teaching of Chinese," he said.

Media references

Associate Professor Philip Kirchlechner (UWA Confucius Institute)  (+61 8)  6488 6887
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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