On 2 September 2024, the Global Final of the 23rd Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students was successfully held in Fujian, China. Dávid Šandala from the The Chinese studies section of the Department of East Asian Studies at Comenius University, representing Slovakia, won the First Prize after a fierce competition with 147 contestants from 130 countries. This achievement not only demonstrates the strength of Slovak youth in the field of Chinese language learning, but also sets the best record in the history of Slovak competitors in the event.
The ‘Chinese Bridge’ series of Chinese language competitions is a large-scale international Chinese language competition sponsored by the Chinese and Foreign Language Exchange and Cooperation Centre of the Ministry of Education, aiming to provide a platform for Chinese language learners from all over the world to demonstrate their Chinese language proficiency, exchange their learning experiences and test their learning achievements, and to build bridges to promote the friendship of Chinese language learners from all over the world. Since it was first held in 2002, the ‘Chinese Bridge’ series of Chinese language competitions has attracted more than 1.6 million young people from more than 160 countries and regions to participate in overseas preliminaries, with hundreds of millions of viewers around the world every year, and has been regarded as the Olympics of global Chinese language competitions.
This achievement is not only a remarkable moment for David, but also a new chapter in Chinese education and cultural exchange in Slovakia, further deepening the friendly cooperation between the two countries.
