Society

Contest inspires Chinese youth

By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-11 07:54

Related video: Contest inspires Chinese youth

SHENZHEN, Guangdong - Standing out from a group of 65 selected speakers with her impressive performance in both prepared and impromptu speeches, 19-year-old Xu Jiru won the top award at a national English speaking contest launched by China Daily on Sunday afternoon.

Xu Jiru, winner of the top award at the "21st Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition, celebrates with Wang Guoqing (left), vice-minister of the Information Office of the State Council, and Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily, in Shenzhen on Sunday. [Chen Yuguang / for China Daily]

Xu, a junior at Tsinghua University, will represent Chinese college students at the International Public Speaking Competition, which is sponsored by the English-Speaking Union to promote global understanding through English. The event will take place in London in May.

Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the Information Office of the State Council, expressed a hope at the ceremony that the contestants would use their ability to speak English to promote Chinese culture across the globe.

The final event in the annual China Daily "21st Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition took place in Shenzhen for the first time this year to support the southern Chinese city's being chosen as the site of the Universiade this August. The Universiade is an international sports tournament in which athletes at universities compete.

"Our competition, which is very popular among Chinese college students, will increase the passion of these young people to participate in the coming Universiade in Shenzhen and help improve their ability to communicate with foreign visitors," said Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily.

Yan Xiaopei, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shenzhen, praised the contestants for their outstanding performances during the competition, noting that the young contestants were good ambassadors of Chinese culture to the rest of the world.

Huang Guoqiang, executive deputy director of the Executive Office of the Organizing Committee of Universiade Shenzhen 2011, said he was deeply impressed by the prepared speeches, which had to be written on the themes of dreams and faith.

"We hope that hosting the Universiade will inspire college students in China to keep fighting for their dreams and faith," he said.

Started last May, the competition was promoted using a combination of Internet and traditional media and elicited participation from more than 7,000 college students, who hailed from 19 provinces and municipalities, according to the organizer.

The judges of the competition came from leading universities and other educational institutions from China and abroad.

Besides the top award, given to the "China Daily 21st Century Most Promising Speaker", the competition has established various other awards, including ones for "Boree Most Popular Speaker", named after a Chinese brand of women's footwear; and the "BBC Best Impromptu Speech Award", named after the British Broadcasting Corp.

The winners of the competition could have the opportunity to study in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong or Macao for a short term or get an internship with BBC.