Years of learning Mandarin pay off for varsity student

Linguistic triumph: (From left) Muhamad Shahmeer with his grandmother Chin Wan Mee, mother Selina Lee Abdullah and aunt Lee Saw Leng after placing second in the competition. — Photo courtesy of Aziz How Abdullah, Malaysian Embassy

BEIJING: Malaysian student Muha­mad Shahmeer Mohd Nash­rul’s years of studies in a Chinese school paid off when he shone on the global stage here, thanks to his fluent Mandarin.

The accounting undergraduate of Universiti Teknologi Mara came in second among more than 100 students in the 16th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, the biggest of such contests worldwide.