On 11th, May, the 14th China Japanese Speech Contest (Northwest Region Preliminary Contest) was successfully held in Xi’an International Studies University. Gong Weiyan, a sophomore majoring in Japanese in the School of Foreign Languages of Xidian University, was ranked the second of all the contestants and won the Special Prize. Japanese teacher Lu Lei and foreign teacher Katou Yasuyuki scooped the Outstanding Instructor Award.

China Japanese Speech Contest is co-hosted by China Education Association for International Exchange, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan Economic News Agency) and the Association of Chinese Professors in Japan. This contest has been held each year since 2006. Throughout China, 8 preliminary contest divisions are set, where two Special Prize winners are selected from each division to enter the grand final in Tokyo. The contest aims to interest Chinese college students in learning Japanese to a high standard and in doing so, to promote mutual understanding and people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan.
There were 25 contestants from 25 colleges in 6 provinces including Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Shanxi. The topics for prepared speech were “Olympics and I--2020 in Tokyo and 2022 in Beijing” and “My Advice on China-Japan Adolescent Exchange Promotion Year”, and that of the impromptu speech section was “Smile”. After fierce competition, Gong Yanwei, winner of the Special Prize, impressed the judges and the audience by her fluent expression and moving content,earning her a position in the grand final in Tokyo. She has been studying Japanese for 10 years and passed the JLPT N1 test at the age 15.
A great leap after last year’s Third Prize, this encouraged our faculty and students, as well as demonstrating the excellence of Xidian’s Japanese majors and the strength of Xidian’s Japanese teaching quality. After this win, all faculty of the Japanese major will devote themselves to teaching with stronger confidence and greater enthusiasm in hope of contributing greater glory and providing more talents for our society.