LIBREVILLE, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The 21st "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition for the Gabonese college students was held Friday in the Confucius Institute of Omar Bongo University in Libreville, the capital of Gabon.
After the first round of auditions, 11 students made it to Friday's national preliminary contest, looking to qualify for the 21st "Chinese Bridge" global competition. The final consisted of three parts -- an improvised speech, a knowledge quiz, and a talent show.
"The winner of the competition goes to Sabasse Adjato," declared Tong Xinping, charge d'affaires ad interim at the Chinese Embassy in Gabon.
The "Chinese Bridge" competition has become a well-known brand in international cultural exchanges and an important platform for young students from all over the world to learn Chinese, understand China, exchange ideas, and strengthen friendships.
The preliminary contest was organized by the Confucius Institute, which opened its doors in 2018 on the premises of Omar Bongo University. In just four years, the Institute has already trained some 1,000 students.
"We are very satisfied with the quality of the Gabonese students. Their enthusiasm brings us a lot of pleasure," stated the Institute's director general, Liu Jipeng on the sidelines of the competition, noting that Sabasse Adjato, winner of the day, started learning mandarin just a year ago.
Adjato, the 2022 champion of Gabon is a student in the Department of Iberian Languages at the Omar Bongo University. Besides Chinese and his mother tongue French, he also speaks fluent Spanish.
"I am a lover of languages. That is why I enrolled here (Confucius Institute) to learn Mandarin. I am going to prepare very hard to hopefully be the best during the final of the competition," told Xinhua the Gabonese champion.
