May 5, 2012 witnessed a big success of the preliminary contest of the Eleventh "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Tertiary Students and the Fifth "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary Students at the University of Canterbury. 22 participants from the local universities and schools joined in the contest. Also present at the competition were Mr Wang Xinmin, Vice Consul-General of the P. R. China in Christchurch, and Prof. Ed Adelson, PVC (Arts) of the University of Canterbury, who had delivered speeches and awarded prizes to the winners.

2012 is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and New Zealand. Relating to this theme, the contestants expressed their love of China in their speeches, weaved their Chinese dream in words and presented their understandings and appreciations of the Chinese culture through talents. Jakob, contestant of the intermediate category, being fascinated by the Chinese Panda, said in his speech: "I like China; I want to go to China to have a look at the real Panda. My Chinese dream is to be a zoologist specializing on the study of Panda in China." And Brair, contestant of secondary category, gave an allusive and wisecracking speech. She began her speech with an old Chinese saying "a journey of miles begins with one step", saying that her Chinese learning should be carried on step by step. And she ended her speech with another saying "never too old to learn" to express her determination in pursuing Chinese study. Her excellent speech won warm applause from the audience as well as the judges. A traditional melody--Fernleaf Hedge Bamboo in the Moonlight--was played with hulusi by Annelise, contestant of the tertiary category. The beautiful music conveyed her deep love towards Chinese culture. After a fierce competition, a total of nine students stood out to be representatives of South Island to take part in the NZ National "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition, which will be held at the University of Canterbury on May 26 2012.

Mr Wang Xinmin, Vice Consul-General, delivered a speech in the awarding ceremony. He first extended his sincere thanks to the organizers of the competition--the Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury. And then he emphasized that this competition not only selected outstanding competitors for the national "Chinese Bridge"
Competition, but also played a very positive role in promoting Chinese language teaching and learning in the South Island of New Zealand.