'Chinese Bridge' language contest for high school students held in Ukraine

The 10th Ukrainian edition of Chinese Proficiency Competition "Chinese Bridge" for high school students took place here on Wednesday.

The event, which is held in the framework of the Sino-Ukrainian cultural exchanges week, titled "One Belt One Road," was staged in Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages with 11 participants.

The contestants aged between 15 and 17 years old from the Ukrainian capital and the eastern city of Kharkov showed their skills and talents during this year's contest.

The competition was divided into three parts: self-introduction in Chinese, questions and answers about China's history and culture and a talent show. Dmytro Gordeev, a student of Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages, won the competition, charming the public and jury with outstanding Chinese-speaking skills and an art performance on stilts.

"My dream is to study in China. That's why I decided to participate in this competition," Gordeev told Xinhua in Chinese. Gordeev, together with Anastasiya Baydyuk, who came second, will travel to China to represent Ukraine in the finals of the "Chinese Bridge" among high school students.

"I am proud of the chance the God has given us. I am proud of my child, who traveled this path with dignity. I hope that in Beijing she will show all her talents," Larysa Baydyuk, mother of Anastasiya Baydyuk, told Xinhua. The international contest "Chinese Bridge," organized by the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Hanban, China, in 2002, aims to encourage foreign students learning Chinese.

Last year, the Kiev Gymnasium of Oriental Languages received modern educational equipment worth about 226,000 U.S. dollars from the Chinese government to fit out three language-learning classrooms.