For the love of art: Maybelle, in her native attire, writing in calligraphy during the recent online competition in which she beat 17 finalist to bag the first prize.
KOTA KINABALU: An 11-year-old Kadazan girl has won first prize in a Chinese calligraphy online competition held nationwide.
“For me, Chinese calligraphy is like art and I love doing art,” said Maybelle Meryl Maurice, whose father is Kadazan while her mother is of Kadazan-Chinese parentage.
The Year Five pupil of SJK (C) St Peter is fond of the language as well.
“Mandarin is beautiful to my ears. It’s nice to listen to it and to speak the language,” she added.
The elder of two siblings said that studying in a vernacular school and having a half-Chinese mother probably helped ignite her interest in the language and culture.
She beat 17 finalists of the Chinese Bridge (Chinese Proficiency Competition) for Malaysian primary school students held online on June 11.
The competition was hosted by the Chinese embassy in Malaysia and organised by the Kongzi Institute of Universiti Malaya.
She will be representing Malaysia in the international level of the Chinese Bridge Competition together with the runner-up.
Maybelle said she started learning Chinese calligraphy in school when she was eight.
At home, she speaks English, Malay, Mandarin and Kadazan.
As for her grades in the Chinese subject, she said they were usually “above average”.
And unlike most of her cousins and friends who tend to listen to K-pop or English tunes, she prefers Mandarin songs.
Her father, Maurice Miki, a teacher, said although he does not understand Chinese or calligraphy, he always supports and encourages his daughter to pursue what she loves.
“From the start, I knew she would win some of the top spots in the competition because she always comes home with awards whenever she joins any state contests,” he said.
He said it was however still a surprise when she emerged the winner in the latest competition.
Maurice, 42, said he is grateful that his wife, a homemaker, was always guiding their daughter, as well as Maybelle’s teachers for taking the time and effort to hone her skill.
He said he also feels that it is important to be multilingual these days.
During the competition, participants were required to showcase their talent by either singing, doing calligraphy, dancing, and so on.
There were also segments on language and cultural knowledge tests.
During the opening ceremony of the competition, Education Counsellor of the Embassy, Zhao Chang Tao, said Chinese civilisation has a long history and culture of over 5,000 years.
He said Mandarin is a commonly used language in the world with more than a billion speakers.
Prof Yong Zulina, vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya (international affairs), said the Chinese Bridge competition is a platform to promote language and cultural exchanges between China and Malaysia.
