WELLINGTON: The "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competitions held for the Auckland region on Saturday (May 23) drew a record number of students to compete with each other in the largest city of New Zealand.
The annual event for foreign college, secondary and primary school students attracted 189 registered participants from 44 schools across the region this year, as against 154 from 38 schools in 2025, according to the organiser, the Confucius Institute in Auckland.
Alongside their Chinese speeches, the participants also showcased their talents and Chinese culture performances such as traditional Chinese dances, Chinese songs, Chinese musical instruments, lion and dragon dances, Wushu performances and even a self-taught face-changing performance.
Hasithma Galapitiya, a ninth grader from the Auckland suburb of Albany, performed a beautiful fan dance in the contest.
"One of her favourite subjects is Mandarin. She really loved to learn new languages, especially Mandarin. For this competition, she was doing very hard work. Every day she's practicing for at least one hour," said her mother, Nuwangi Dantanrayana.
Suerya Da Sila is a proud mother from Whangarei. It took her three hours to take her daughter Kayleigh to the competition.
Kayleigh was dressed in China's Zhuang ethnic costume and danced together with four other girls from Onerahi School.
"I am very proud. They started learning Chinese last year. Last year, they did a Chinese dance competition and then this year they started doing the speeches. The kids love it. They enjoy the culture and everything about China. They are also eager to go and visit China," said Da Sila.
As deputy principal at Arahoe School in West Auckland, Vanessa Jansz is an enthusiastic supporter of Chinese language courses at her school.
"It's good for children who don't speak Mandarin, which is about 70 per cent of our school, to be introduced to a language that they are not familiar with. Even if it's as basic as knowing your numbers or saying hello or goodbye, they can interact with other language students like Chinese or Malaysians who speak Chinese. And it builds connections," said Jansz.
Top students selected from the competition will have the opportunity to represent Auckland with winners from other parts of New Zealand for the final competition in China. - Xinhua
