On November 4, 2017, the quarter-final of the First Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Chinese Contest for ASEAN students (Tianjin Division) kicked off at Tianjin University.
The contest was initiated by the ASEAN-China Center, and sponsored by Tianjin University, Beijing Language and Culture University and Hebei Normal University. It aims to promote the development of Chinese international education, and strengthen humanity exchanges among youths in China and the ASEAN countries. The contest also encourages the ASEAN students to learn and understand Chinese well so that they can be friendship envoys between China and the ASEAN in the future.
At the contest, Zhang Jing, education officer of the ASEAN-China Center, delivered a speech and said, “With the in-depth development of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, friendly cooperation between the ASEAN and China in various fields has grown increasingly closer and serves as an important hub of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is our hope that international students will learn Chinese and professional knowledge well, and contribute to building a community of human destiny and promoting friendship with China.”
Forty outstanding ASEAN student representatives from 13 Tianjin universities competed on the same stage, and put on a wonderful talent show of Chinese traditional culture, including Chinese comic dialogue, classical dances, martial arts, Chinese painting and paper cut, and poet chanting.

Several experts in relevant fields, including a senior researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences and a presidium member of the Tianjin Writers Association served as judges.

By Zhang Chenxi

Editors: Yin Wei & Doris Harrington