NEWS
A Student from the UOB Confucius Institute Obtains “Excellence Award” in the Chinese Language at the International Level
Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Khadijah Abdusalem)
December 26, 2022
The student, Fatima Marhoon, from the Confucius Institute at the University of Bahrain, won the “Excellence Award” in the twenty-first edition of the “Chinese Bridge” language contest for university students around the world, in addition to the “Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship” from the Center of Language Education and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Education to study the Chinese language in China for one semester.
The student of architecture Fatima Marhoon (who is called Han Fei Meng in Chinese) was selected to participate in the final competition in November 2022, after passing several rounds of the “Chinese Bridge” competition and obtaining first place in the final qualifiers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Marhoon competed online against 131 contestants from 111 countries and 119 regions in the two parts of the final contest of “Multiple Choice Questions on Knowledge of Chinese Culture” and “Composition in Chinese.”
The student presented a three-minute video “blog” under the guidance of the Institute’s teachers, in which she told her story on learning the Chinese language at the Confucius Institute at the University of Bahrain, where she mixed the architectural style of the University of Bahrain with the structure of Chinese calligraphy to show the beauty of Chinese calligraphy and the common aspects between the cultures of China and Bahrain. The video had 1,830 votes on a voting site in China, ranking in the top 20 in Asia.
The student expressed her gratitude to the Confucius Institute’s teachers for helping her learn Chinese, as she has studied at the Institute since September 2021. She has also participated in a four-week summer program organized by Shanghai University. She stressed that she will continue to learn the Chinese language with passion and will travel to China to examine the beautiful oriental architecture and experience the rich Chinese culture.
For her part, Director of the Confucius Institute from the Chinese side, Dr. QianWen Zhou, expressed her happiness at the excellent results achieved by the Bahraini students in the competition and their love of the Chinese language. She added that she looks forward to the success of the student Fatima Marhoon (Han Fei Meng) in learning and her contribution to strengthening the friendship between China and Bahrain and promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries. She stressed that the Institute will continue to intensify its efforts in teaching the Chinese language efficiently and will also provide learners of the Chinese language with a high-quality educational environment.
It is worthy to note that the “Chinese Bridge” competition is an annual contest held by the Center of Language Education and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Education. It aims to provide a Chinese language learning platform for students from all over the world to enhance their speaking skill, create a platform for mutual learning and communication, increase their enthusiasm and interest in language learning and enhance their understanding of Chinese culture.
