If time could be turned back what would you do? Fifty students from all over the country gathered in Shanghai yesterday to speak on the subject in English.

It was the final of the Fifth "21st Century-Scholastic Cup" National High School and Primary School English Speaking Competition.

Zhang Rong from Diocean Girls School in Hong Kong was judged the Grand Champion in the Senior High School section, and Yuan Siying, also from Diocean Girls School, was judged the Grand Champion of the Primary School section.

The first runner-up in the High School section was Wang Xuan from No 10 Middle School of Nanchong, Sichuan. Liu Huixue from Qingdao Jinmen Road Primary School was the first runner-up in the Primary School section.

Wang Xuan will represent the Chinese mainland at the International English Speech Competition to be held by the English Speaking Union in London in May next year. He will be the first Chinese mainland high school student to participate in the London competition.

Sponsored by China Daily and Scholastic, the leading children's book publisher in the United States, the competition attracted tens of thousands of students from across the Chinese mainland and from the Hong Kong.

The purpose of the competition was to promote English learning and teaching in China and promote cross- culture exchanges.

"I was amazed by the performance of the Chinese students who used excellent English to express their vivid imaginations. Some of them sounded like native English speakers," said Verner Bickely, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the English Speaking Union Hong Kong.

Professor Chen Lin, a senior educator in China, who has been teaching English for more than 50 year, said he would encourage his students to read more newspapers and magazines instead of just text books.

(China Daily 12/11/2006 page2)