Sponsored by China Education Association for International Exchange, Nikkei Shimbun and China-Japan Academic Exchange Center (Conference of Chinese Professors in Japanin Japan), and co-sponsored by Sub-committee of the Japanese Language Teaching Guidance of the Foreign Language and Literature Teaching Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Education and Chinese Society for Japanese Language Teaching and Research, the northeast Preliminary Competition of the 16th Chinese National Japanese Speech Contest took place in Jilin University on October 10th.
Feng Zhengyu, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Jilin University, delivered the opening speech. Yu Yougen, Deputy Secretary-General of China Education Association for International Exchange, Lunichiro Nagasawa, director of Global Business Department of Nikkei Shimbun, and Professor Tang Yaming from China-Japan Academic Exchange Center (Conference of Chinese Professors in Japan) delivered speeches respectively.
Mr. Feng Zhengyu praised the contest for playing an important role in the exchanges between the youths of China and Japan and expressed his gratitude to people from all walks of life for their support to the contest over the years. He also said that the Department of Japanese at Jilin University, with its long history and powerful educational strength, has cultivated many outstanding talents for China. He hoped that the Japanese Department will carry forward its fine tradition and win greater glory in the future.
Guan Shengliang, Vice Minister of Publicity Department of Party Committee of Jilin University, Liu Changsong, Secretary of Party Committee of School of Foreign Studies, and Zhang Meimei, Dean of School of Foreign Studies of Jilin University, attended the opening ceremony. Xiu Gang, Chairman of Japanese Sub-Committee of Foreign Language Teaching Instruction Committee of Higher Education Institutions of Ministry of Education, honorary President of Chinese Research Association of Japanese Language Teaching, former President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, served as the chairman of the jury. Zhou Yifu, President of Chinese Research Association of Japanese Language Teaching, Dean of School of Japanese Language of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Director of Beijing Center for Japanese Studies, and other experts in Japanese education served as the judges.
The contestants are from 32 universities in Northeast China. Cai Yong from Jilin University and Zhang Bolun from Northeast Normal University won the grand prize by ranking the first and the second respectively. They will participate in the national finals as representatives of Northeast Region.
Following the innovative mode of "online + offline" live broadcast created last year, the contest attracted more than 10,000 audience to watch online at the same time. The competition can not only improve the critical thinking ability and multi-thinking ability of Japanese majors in various universities and encourage students to speak Chinese voices and tell Chinese stories in Japanese, but also promote the cultural exchanges between China and Japan.
