London hosts UK finals of Chinese singing contest

The 2025 United Kingdom regional final of the "Cultures of China: Water Cube Cup" Chinese Songs Singing Competition concluded on Saturday in London, marking the 15th consecutive year of the event in Britain.

Organized by the London Chinatown Chinese Association, the contest this year saw 26 participants from across the UK compete in three age categories: adults (18-40), juniors (12-17), and children (5-11). And the gold prizes in each group were awarded to Ruoling Yang, Elizabeth Kong, and Daniel Lee Yao, respectively, this year. They are set to represent the UK in the coming global finals.

In a welcome speech, Chu Ting Tang OBE, Chairman of the London Chinatown Chinese Association, said the competition is not only a platform for contestants to showcase their talent, but also a cultural bridge that promotes people-to-people exchanges between China and the UK.

Liu Hongmei, counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, praised the event for fostering a deepening cultural bond between younger generations and their ancestral roots.

"We are delighted to see so many young people of Chinese heritage in the UK participating in the competition over the years. Their growing proficiency in the Chinese language and their improving singing skills reflect not only their passion for Chinese culture but also the enduring vitality of Chinese culture abroad," she said.

Among the 26 contestants is a 12-year-old Chinese-British girl named Elizabeth Perry, who has been participating the competition for five consecutive years and won the silver prize this year by singing My Gifts from the World by Faye Wong.

Elizabeth's mother said, "The competition provides a great opportunity for children to learn Chinese and explore Chinese culture. We were pleased to see how much Elizabeth's language skills improved as she prepared for the singing contest."

"Many Chinese children growing up overseas find it challenging to learn the language. That's why we've been teaching her Chinese from a very young age. We want her to stay closely connected to her cultural roots," she added.

Another silver prize winner, Zhaoyi Yan from Southwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region performed a song called The Moonlight Over Sayram Lake.

Xinjiang is an incredible place, with stunning lakes, grasslands, mountains, and a wealth of cultural and natural resources," Yan said. "I'm proud of my hometown, and I want to share that pride and love with everyone here in London."

As a PhD student in the anthropology of music at Oxford University, Yan said she recognizes the power of music to tell stories.

"There are various ways to tell Chinese stories overseas, while music is a very powerful way to transcend cultures, countries, time, and space," she said.

Miao Lu, who has been the judge in the competition for three consecutive years, said: "I can see there are more and more contestants, including non-Chinese faces joining the competition every year, with a higher Chinese level, indicating that Chinese is becoming more popular among the international community."

Xiuqin Liao, principal of the London Mandarin School, noted that many contestants in the junior and children's groups are students from the school.

"At the very beginning, many of these children spoke no Mandarin at all. Now, we are pleased to see that after learning at our school, they have become quite proficient in Chinese. Increasingly, we use music as a medium to teach them the language while introducing the rich Chinese cultures, spanning from ancient times to modern China," she said. "This competition provides a wonderful platform for them to showcase their learning and their passion for Chinese culture."

Launched in 2011, the "Cultures of China: Water Cube Cup" Chinese Songs Singing Competition is a global cultural initiative aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture among overseas Chinese communities. Over the past 15 years, the competition has attracted more than 60,000 participants from dozens of countries.