Female language student achieves remarkable feat in the world's largest Chinese language competition.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Outperforming hundreds of contestants from countries around the world, Nguyen Thanh Mai has just excellently won the Asian championship and ranked 3rd in the world at the "International Chinese Bridge" competition 2025.

Báo Dân trí•05/10/2025

Achieving a remarkable feat in the world's largest Chinese language competition.

Nguyen Thanh Mai, a 12th-grade student from the Foreign Language Specialized High School (Vietnam National University, Hanoi ), has just excelled as one of the five Asian champions in the 18th "Chinese Bridge" competition for high school students worldwide, held in China.

To achieve this result, Mai overcame 119 contestants through four rigorous rounds of competition in the following categories: answering questions (testing knowledge), showcasing Chinese cultural and artistic talents, situational dialogue, and thematic public speaking.

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Nguyen Thanh Mai excellently won first place in Asia and ranked 3rd in the world at the "International Chinese Bridge" competition in 2025 (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

This is the first time a Vietnamese student has been in the top 5 in the world, and it is the best achievement for high school students in our country to date.

Speaking to a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper , Thanh Mai said that she was very surprised when her name was announced as the continental champion and the world runner-up. Her friends and teacher backstage cheered and encouraged her, making her even more overwhelmed with happiness.

"I am proud to represent my country on the international stage; the efforts of both my students and I have been justly rewarded," Thanh Mai said.

Sharing more about the competition, the female student said that the organizers only announced the rules and the set of 125 multiple-choice questions (with answers) a few days before the official competition.

The comprehensive test includes a wide range of challenging topics related to China, including grammar, vocabulary, science and technology, and arts and culture.

Like other candidates, I was required to memorize the material and have an account to take the online practice tests. In just under two days, I dedicated every available moment, even on the bus, to studying.

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Thanh Mai showcases her talent at the competition (Photo: Provided by the contestant).

Especially in the final round, with the requirement to showcase a new piece of talent that had never been used in the competition before, I only had 4 hours to choreograph it.

According to the student, this was perhaps the most memorable experience because it was the first time she had the opportunity to challenge her limits with such a short preparation time. Furthermore, participating in the competition gave her the chance to collaborate with students from Asia and other continents.

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Performances by Thanh Mai at the world competition (Photo: Provided by the artist).

Continuing the love of the Chinese language inherited from my maternal grandfather.

It is known that Thanh Mai used Chinese as a foreign language to take the entrance exam for 10th grade at the Foreign Language Specialized High School.

In 10th grade, the female student won third prize in the Chinese Language Olympiad at Hanoi National University. In 11th grade, the young student continued to win first prize in the same competition.

In the Chinese Language Bridge competition, although she knew about it since 9th grade, the 11th-grade female student only participated in 11th grade and was one of two contestants selected by the school to compete at the national level in 2025.

At the national level, the student specializing in foreign languages won both the championship and first prize in the public speaking category. Notably, with her song "The Great Mountain," Thanh Mai also won first prize in the talent competition.

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The female student had to practice day and night to improve her pictographic handwriting (Photo: Provided by the subject).

Around August of this year, Thanh Mai began preparing for the international competition. To start, she chose to continue with the talent and speech segments, just like in the national competition.

With the theme "Soaring High with Your Chinese Language Dreams," contestants were asked to write about their journey in learning Chinese.

"I've written down my journey and dreams, my love for learning Chinese, which originated from my maternal grandfather. His love for Chinese characters nurtured my dreams and the wonderful feeling of learning Chinese from a young age. Although he's no longer with us, he was the starting point for my journey of learning Chinese," Thanh Mai said.

According to this student, she was very poor at writing Chinese characters in the beginning. During that time, she wanted to give up because she lost confidence, but with the close guidance and encouragement of her teacher, she overcame the challenge.

Sharing her secret to learning Chinese, one of the most difficult pictographic languages with an unfamiliar writing system and particularly challenging pronunciation, she said that in addition to school lessons, she self-studied by writing extensively to improve her handwriting.

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There was a time when Thanh Mai thought about giving up her dream of studying Chinese, but she overcame it (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

Having overcome the difficult period, the young student gradually discovered that this language was truly magical, helping her to access the world, to bigger and broader horizons…

It is known that after the competition, Thanh Mai received a scholarship to study in China for 3 years from 2026-2028.

"For now, I'm dedicating all my time to taking the high school graduation exam, and then I'll go abroad to study on a scholarship," Thanh Mai shared.

Commenting on Thanh Mai, Ms. Chu Minh Ngoc, homeroom teacher and Chinese language teacher at the Foreign Language Specialized High School, said that from grade 10, Mai had shown the ability to pronounce Chinese correctly, as well as good reflexes and communication skills.

She is capable of both singing and dancing well, and commands the stage. In the regional finals for the North and Central regions of the country, the judges were surprised and highly praised Mai's performance of the song "Dai Son". At that competition, in addition to first prize, Mai also received the talent award and the public speaking award.

In particular, she is a dynamic and capable school Youth Union secretary, possessing strong leadership and organizational skills, a sense of responsibility, and the ability to handle high pressure.

"On the day of the qualifying round in Vietnam, Mai had just fallen off her motorbike and couldn't walk, so she had to take two painkiller pills so she could perform on stage," Ms. Ngoc said.

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Thanh Mai (on the right) is the dynamic secretary of the school's Youth Union (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

According to her homeroom teacher, Mai only had a day and a half to prepare, and she had to go through several tests including knowledge assessment, artistic talent demonstration, situational dialogue, and a speech on the topic "The Future World," which are relatively difficult concepts, making the preparation process quite challenging.

The night before the final, the teacher and student continued practicing with their Jordanian partner until 1 AM, then Mai put together the video clip herself for the presentation.

On the dress rehearsal day, the teacher and students had to search through numerous online shopping and rental apps in the host country to find costumes suitable for the performance, not to mention a few other minor mishaps.

"But the biggest surprise was in the continental champion round (top 15 to choose 5), when Mai had to compete against two other contestants from Laos and Indonesia, both of whom were extremely talented."

"Mai's high score, far surpassing the two contestants from Laos and Indonesia, brought overwhelming joy to both the teacher and the student," Ms. Ngoc recalled.

The Chinese Language Bridge is an annual competition held worldwide. It's a platform for students learning Chinese to showcase their knowledge. This year's semi-finals and finals featured 119 contestants from countries around the world.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nu-sinh-chuyen-ngu-dat-ky-tich-cuoc-thi-tieng-trung-lon-nhat-the-gioi-20251004231437729.htm