GCI held Chinese Bridge Competition and the Opening Ceremony of GCI Exhibition: Revisiting Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy

Gepubliseerd op 30.04.2018

On 14th April, Groningen Confucius Institute, together with the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands and China Cultural Center organized the 11th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students in the Hague. Eight pre-eminent contestants from five Dutch secondary schools, four of which are GCI’s Confucius Classrooms, participated in the competition, which attracted around 100 observers from different fields to watch the competition.

The competition scene

Director of GCI, Mrs. Xuefei Knoester Cao, also the hostess of the competition, welcomed all participants and the five judges from three Confucius Institutes, the University of Groningen and a secondary school, and also introduced the three sections of the competition, including knowledge quiz, speech, and talent show.

Mrs. Xuefei Knoester Cao, Director of GCI, was hosting the competition

In the speech section, the contestants shared their experience of learning Chinese and expressed their affection for China and Chinese. “Chinese is a window into my mind, and I have seen the colorful world when I opened this window”, one of the contestants Keoni York described what he felt in learning Chinese.

In the talent show section, the contestants gave a variety of performances, such as Chinese musical instrument Guzheng solos and Chinese classical and pop songs, which won high praise from the judges and the audiences.

The contestants were giving speeches and talent show

After intense competition, Keoni York, from Stanislascollege Delft and Maarten Balder from Petrus Canicius College Alkmaar were awarded the first prize and they are going to represent the Netherlands to take part in the global finals in China.

Contestants and their lead teachers

The opening ceremony of GCI Exhibition: Revisiting Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy was specially designed after the Chinese Bridge competition. The hostess of the ceremony, Mrs. Jingyi Liu, also Chinese Director of GCI, expounded that Chinese Bridge Competition and Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition are an integration of Chinese language, culture and art, aiming to build a bridge between China and the Netherlands.

Mrs. Jingyi Liu, Chinese Director of GCI, was giving a speech

Mr. Qingyu Meng, Education Counselor of Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands extended congratulations to all the contestants of Chinese Bridge Competition on their excellent performance and acknowledged the well-organized events carried out by GCI and China Culture Center.

Mr. Qingyu Meng, Education Counselor of Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands, was giving a speech

Mr. Jaap Post, the former president of Friendship Association the Netherlands-China shared his stories with China in the past 25 years and encouraged Dutch youngsters to acquaint themselves with Chinese language and culture.

Adviser at Agricultural Economics Research Institute and Friendship Association the Netherlands-China Mr. Jaap Post was giving a speech

After the speeches, the significant unveiling ceremony for Revisiting Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition was witnessed by all the guests, after which the calligrapher Mr. Qieyi Zhang delivered a speech and created a calligraphy work ‘Lofty Mountains and Flowing Waters’ live accompanied on Guzheng presented by GCI teacher Jingfan Xie. A video about the painter Mrs. Huirong Zhang and an interview with her conducted by Mrs. Jingyi Liu took the audiences behind the scenes of artistic creation.

The unveiling ceremony for Revisiting Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition

The calligrapher Mr. Qieyi Zhang was giving live calligraphy performance

Mrs. Jingyi Liu was interviewing with the painter Mrs. Huirong Zhang

With the beautiful song Vincent performed by Petrus Canicius College students, the opening ceremony of Revisiting Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition was ended in a very cheerful atmosphere.

The students from Petrus Canicius College was singing song Vincent

The exhibition will be on view from 14th April to 26th April, along with a series of activities, such as Meet-up with Artists on 19th April and various workshops on Chinese calligraphy, painting and tea ceremony.

Until now, Chinese Bridge Competition and the Opening Ceremony of GCI Exhibition has been extensively covered by many newspapers. Their reports can be found in the following links: