1. Name

Chinese name: 第三届“汉语桥”世界中学生中文比赛

English name: The 3rd “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency

Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students

2. Theme

Chinese theme: 快乐汉语，健康成长

English theme: Fun with Chinese, Growing with Vigor

3. Purpose

To provide a platform for young students to show their Chinese proficiency, learn from one another and conduct exchanges, in order to stimulate their enthusiasm and interest in learning Chinese and enhance their understanding of Chinese language and culture.

4. Sponsor

Hanban

5. Host for semi-finals and finals

Chongqing Municipal Education Commission with Chongqing Radio and Television Group

6. Organizer

An organizing committee for the 3rd “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students (organizing committee for short) will be set up by the sponsor and the host, which will be responsible for making decisions and making assessments on major issues.

7. Participants

Foreign high school students aged from 15 to 20 with foreign nationalities or overseas-born Chinese whose first language is not Chinese. In principle, winners of the most recent finals are not allowed to participate two consecutive competitions.

8. Contents

● Chinese language proficiency

● Knowledge of China

Test questions will be released on the official website www.chinesebridge.org, Hanban’s website www.hanban.org and online Confucius Institute www.chinese.cn. Reference questions can be found on www.china.org.cn, www.news.cn, www.people.com.cn and www.cqnews.net.

● Chinese cultural skills

Chinese songs, dance, folk arts, acrobatics, musical instruments, calligraphy, Chinese paintings, paper-cutting, martial arts, traditional sports etc.

● Comprehensive learning ability

Chiefly examine students’ comprehensive learning ability and practical application ability through training.

9. Arrangement

The competition is divided into preliminaries and finals. Preliminaries will be held in foreign countries, and finals will be held in China. The cost of lodging, meals and transportation for contestants coming to China to participate in the finals will be provided by the organizing committee.

1) Preliminary (before July 20th, 2010)

Selected and recommended by the educational or cultural office (section) of a Chinese Embassy (Consulate), Confucius Institute or relevant educational institution. Each team consists of 3 contestants and 1 group teacher.

2) Finals (from middle to the end of October, 2010)

Contestants will compete with each other as a team (including originals teams and regrouped teams) in several rounds, such as youth charm, life skills and learning skills from a master. An integrating system will be adopted for the finals: in each round of the competition, the team scores will be allotted equally to its members and individual scores will be accumulated into the team scores. Scores in each round will be added up to the total team score, which will be used to select various prizes.

10. Prizes and Awarding Methods

1) Prizes

Team Award

Over Team Award: 1 first place prize, 2 second place prizes and 10 third place prizes; Online Popular Team Award: 1

Individual Award

● Overall Award: 3 first place prizes, 6 second place prizes and 10 third place prizes Single Award: Best Presentation, Best Style, Best Creative, Best Speech, Best Performance, Most Improved Player, Best Writing, Most Popular Online and other awards.

● Prize for Excellence: Contestants except for the above awards will be given prizes of excellence.

2) Awarding Methods

First place winners for the overall group and individual awards will get a Mayor's Scholarship for Foreign Students in China granted by the Chongqing municipal government (including tuition fee for a bachelor’s degree in Chongqing as well as basic living expense and comprehensive medical insurance expense) and round air tickets from Hanban (valid for a 3-year period from 2010 to 2013). They will also be awarded the title “Outstanding Chinese Language Envoy”;

Second place winners for the overall group and individual awards will get a Mayor's Scholarship for Foreign Students in China granted by the Chongqing municipal government (including tuition fee for one-year study of Chinese language in Chongqing as well as basic living expense and comprehensive medical insurance expense), and round air tickets from Hanban (valid for a 3-year period from 2010 to 2013);

Third place winners for the overall group and individual awards and single award winners will get will get a scholarship for one semester of study in China in 2011 and round air tickets from Hanban;

Winners for the online popular group award will get a scholarship for one semester of study in China in 2011 and round air tickets from Hanban;

Winners of prize of excellence will get a scholarship for one semester of study in China in 2011 from Hanban.

11. Judges

The organizing committee will invite experts in language, culture and arts to serve as judges in the finals.

12. Contact Details

Official website of the competition: http://www.chinesebridge.org/

Email address: chinesebridge@hanban.org