Celebrating 10 years of building links

Organized by the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing, the Chinese Bridge Chinese-proficiency contests are three annual competitions for foreign college students, foreign secondary school students and other foreign learners around the world.

The first Chinese Bridge competition was held in 2002 for foreign college students. In 2008, the competition was expanded to include foreign high schoolers. And in 2014, the competition was expanded again to include other foreign Chinese speakers around the world.

This year marked the 10th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students.

Some 3,000 contestants from 107 countries have participated in the contests in the past decade.

The number of participating countries has grown from 24 in 2008 to 96 this year, with 14 participating for the first time. A total of 320 teachers and students from 110 overseas preliminaries got to showcase their capabilities this year.

The competition awards individuals and groups. Contestants' Chinese proficiency, knowledge about China and understanding of Chinese culture are tested in various ways.

Contestants are also invited to visit Chinese enterprises, communities and families, and to experience and participate in Chinese customs and folk arts, including paper cutting and pottery making.

During this year's competition in Southwest China's Yunnan province in October, contestants were asked to do a theater performance about entrepreneurship adapted from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the "four Chinese classical novels".

Some contestants also displayed proficiencies in calligraphy, painting, acrobatics, kung fu and traditional instruments.