Ready to talk about many topics, from the "Preservation of Chinese Dialects" to "Seeing China through a Young Foreigner's Eyes", a group of overseas students studying at colleges and universities in south Jiangsu gathered in Wuxi city on May 18 to share their Chinese connections and dreams.

At the first elimination stage of the 2017 "Shared Joy in Jiangsu" Chinese Speech Contest for Foreigners, 25 youngsters gave excellent audio-visual performances, making a good start for the annual event.

Fan Yijie, an Indonesian student studying at the Changzhou Institute of Technology, said his predestined relationship with China started from food – at the first bite of the Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, he fell in love with the country and made up his mind to come and see.

Fan Yijie, the first prize winner. His fluency in Chinese language and insights into Chinese culture ensured his advance to the final contest to be held at the provincial capital of Nanjing in mid-June. [Photo provided to ec.js.edu.cn]

Although having lived only eight months in China, the young foreigner has developed great fluency in the Chinese language, cracking jokes in Chinese easily and freely, and even "bragging" to be Indonesia's Jack Ma.

"Do not be afraid to dream -- what if you make it," Fan said.