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Friday, 27 August 2010

For the first time in the nine years of the annual international Chinese Bridge Competition, students from one class took out most of the prizes.  And The University of Western Australia classmates did so live, in front of a reality TV audience of 100 million viewers throughout China.

Andrew Chubb of Northbridge and Thomas Williams of Morley came second and third overall in the global contest for students of Mandarin to prove their expertise in general knowledge and cultural understanding as well as the spoken word.

Both are third year students of Liyong Wang, co-ordinator of the Chinese Specialist unit and lecturer in Chinese language and culture in Asian Studies and at UWA's Confucius Institute.

Andrew, who is also a journalist, lived in China with his girlfriend for 18 months from 2007, teaching English and travelling the length of the Great Wall on bicycles and motorised tricycles. He then studied Mandarin at UWA and wowed the competition judges with his public speaking, general knowledge and cultural performance.  And Thomas, who is also studying Law, was successful in speaking and cultural performance.  Another of their classmates, Justin Hewett of Glen Forrest was awarded prizes for general knowledge and public speaking in the Australia-wide finals.

"The competition is open to university students aged under 29 and there were 107 contestants from 62 different countries," Andrew said.  "For most of us, Mandarin was the only language we had in common.  I met people from amazing countries, such as Uzbekistan and the Sudan."

Andrew is finishing Honours in Asian Studies at UWA with a thesis on foreign journalists in China in the 1970s and hopes to win a scholarship to Cambridge University to continue learning about China.

The students' tutor, Mr Wang, said the competition was of the highest standard for students studying Chinese all over the world.  "The students in my class won nine out of a total possible 12 prizes.  I am very proud of my golden boys," he said.

Media references

Andrew Chubb  (+61 4) 02 031 207
Thomas Williams  (+61 4) 19 235 560
Justin Hewett  (+61 4) 10 369 323
Mr Liyong Wang (Confucius Institute Language and Culture Program Coordinator (+61 8)  6488 6847
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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