Contestants take a group photo before the contest. [Photo/bridge.chinese.cn]

For Mihantsa Ferwando, who comes from Madagascar but now lives in Dhaka, it has always been her dream to visit China and become fluent in the Chinese language.

And this is the reason why she joined the Chinese Bridge competition held on the weekend in this capital city.

"I have been studying the Chinese language for about a month. Through this competition, I hope I can improve my Chinese language proficiency," Ferwanda said.

She said even if she failed to win in the competition, she would join the next one and continue to strive to learn Chinese.

Like Ferwando, many other Bangladeshis and foreigners here showed their eagerness to taking part in the competition.

"I like Chinese. I want to be fluent in Chinese. China is very good country," said Tasmin Oji, another contestant.

Unfortunately for Oji and Ferwanda, they were not among the lucky winners in the competition that had 11 contestants, representing a number of educational institutes. The contestants competed in three segments featuring free speeches about "My Chinese dream", Q&As, and artistic performances.

Zobida Tasneem Dewan and Jannath Arahera from Dhaka's leading Shanto-Mariam Confucius Class Room won the first and second prize respectively.

The Chinese embassy here conducted the contest in order to select two youngsters to represent Bangladesh at final Chinese Bridge competition to be held in Beijing later this year.