Distinguished Acting Consul General Zeng Jianhua,

Distinguished Principal Murray Hart,

Dear Contestants and Judges,

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Dear friends,

Good morning! 

It gives me great pleasure to attend the opening ceremony of the 15th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students in Australia. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, I would like to express my appreciation and congratulations to the 15 outstanding secondary school students who have made it to the finals. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all the judges and members of the organizing committee for their hard work!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. Looking back, China and Australia have complemented each other through mutual learning, education cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges, making many friendly and touching stories. Over the past 50 years, China has always viewed and developed China-Australia relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and stayed committed to friendly win-win exchanges and cooperation with the Australian side. This policy remains unchanged.

Friendship between the people holds the key to good relations between countries. Mutual understanding and friendship between the younger generation of China and Australia is an important part of the foundation for sound development of our bilateral relations. China is the largest source of international students for Australia. Thousands of young Chinese students come to Australia to study, making great contributions to local education as well as economic and social development. At the same time, there are nearly 200 thousand Chinese-language learners in Australia.

The “Chinese Bridge” competition provides an opportunity and platform for young Chinese learners from all over the world to demonstrate their Chinese competence and improve their Chinese proficiency, to deepen their understanding of the Chinese language and culture, and to inspire more enthusiasm of young people to learn the Chinese language and culture. Over the past 20 years, some 4 thousand young Australians who learn Chinese and love Chinese culture have participated in the “Chinese Bridge” competitions and achieved great results. Besides, there are more than 1,200 Australian primary and secondary school students who visited China for study tours in the “Chinese Bridge” summer or winter camps.

The theme of the “Chinese Bridge” this year is “Fly High with Chinese”. What I want to tell you is that learning Chinese well means the opportunity to make friends with 1.4 billion Chinese people, the opportunity to become a friendly envoy of China-Australia exchanges, and the opportunity to make greater contributions to China-Australia friendship. I hope that through this “Chinese Bridge” that connects the world, the young people of China and Australia will continue to pass on friendship, link minds and hearts, and make new contributions to China-Australia cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

I hope all contestants will perform well and achieve excellent results! I wish this competition a complete success!

Now, I declare the 15th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students in Australia open!