Program of the 3rd Chinese Bridge－－Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students

I. Purposes
The purposes of the competition are to continue to promote Chinas influence over the teaching of Chinese in the world on the basis of successes of previous competitions, to motivate young foreign students enthusiasm for studying Chinese, and to increase their understanding of the Chinese language and culture.

II. Name of the Competition
Chinese name: 第三届汉语桥世界大学生中文比赛
English name: The 3rd Chinese Bridge－－Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students
III. Theme
Chinese: 文化灿烂的中国
English: China，a Country with a Splendid Culture

IV. The sponsor and the organizer
Sponsor: The State Leading Group for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language
Organizer: The Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a
Foreign Language (NOCFL).

V. The organizing body
The sponsor will establish an Organizing Committee for the Chinese BridgeChinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students. An Executive Committee of the Organizing Committee will be set up and put under the supervision of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL).

VI. Participants (43 countries, 57 foreign missions)
1. Asia (14 countries): the Republic of Korea, Japan (Tokyo, Osaka Fukuoka, Sapporo), Singapore, Mongolia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City), Myanmar, Laos, India, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.
2. America (6 countries): the United States (Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco), Canada (Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto), Mexico, Argentine, Cuba and Brazil.
3. Europe (17 countries): Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Russia (Moscow, Khabarovsk), Sweden, Belarus, Netherlands, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Austria and Latvia.
4. Oceania (2 countries): Australia (Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne), and New Zealand.
5. Africa (4 countries): Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa and Cameroon.

VII. Eligible participants
Eligible participants must be: undergraduate or postgraduate Students from foreign universities, less than 30 years old, either foreigners or children of overseas Chinese nationals and of overseas Chinese students who were born and brought up in foreign countries and whose first language is not Chinese.

VIII. Content and form of the Competition
1. Content:
(1) Chinese language ability.
(2) Knowledge about the national conditions in China (The examination questions and their answers will be posted on website of NOTCFL[www.hanban.edu.cn]. Reference can be found on five other popular Chinese website which are: [www.china.org.cn]、[www.xinhuanet.com.cn]、[www.peopledaily.com.cn]、[www.cri.com.cn]、[www.chinadaily.com.cn]).
(3) Chinese culture skills (such as Chinese songs, dances, operas, musical instruments, calligraphy, painting, paper cutting and martial arts).
2. Forms:
The competition falls into the preliminary and the final rounds.
The preliminaries will be held abroad, conducted jointly by the education and culture sections of the Chinese embassies and consulates general, Chinese teachers sent abroad by the government and local universities. The number of contestants and the form of contest will be subject to the preliminary organizers.

After the preliminaries, each organizer will recommend the top one or two winners to the Organizing Committee. The organizing Committee will select 80 contestants for the final in China (not all the recommended contestants will come to the final)

Expenses for round trip air tickets, hotel accommodations, meals, domestic travelling will be borne by the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.

The final round will be held in Beijing and all the contestants will go directly to the final, which consists of 5 groups with 16 participants in each. All contestants will draw lots to decide the sequence of the competition. Each contestant has 10 minutes to finish:

(1) Prepared speech on topic of ones own choice (3 minutes)
(2) Extemporaneous speech (2 minutes)
(3) Extemporaneous questions and answers session (2 minutes)
(4) Talent Performance (3 minutes)

IX. Dates
The competition will fall into three stages.
The first stage: May 15 to June 15, the preliminaries will be held abroad.

The second stage: June 15 to June 30, winners of the preliminaries will be selected for the final.

The third stage: August 7 to August 16, the final

X. Prizes, award criteria, and awards
1. Prizes:
(1) There will be three first prizes, five second prizes and seven third prizes.
(2) There will be several honorable-mention awards.
(3) Best Presentation Skill Award, Best Scholarship Award, Best Charisma Award, Best Stage Manner Award
2. Award criteria:
The Organizing Committee will select the first, second and the third prize winners in accordance with the contestants overall performance and scores. All participants for the final will receive honorable-mention awards.
3. Awards:
First-prize winners will receive a full scholarship to study for a degree program in China (the scholarship will be valid for three years from 2005 on); round trip air ticket for China; and the title Envoy of Chinese Language.

Second-prize winners will receive a scholarship for a 4-6 week study program in China during summer vacations and round trip air ticket.

Third-prize winners will receive a scholarship for a 15-day China Culture Tour and round trip air ticket.

Honorable-mention winners will receive prizes accordingly.

Best Presentation Skill Award, Best Scholarship Award, Best Charisma Award and Best Stage Manner Award winners will receive prizes accordingly.

All contestants in the final will receive certificates for participation.

X. Judgment
For preliminaries, the organizers will choose their own panel of judges. For the final, the sponsor will invite language, cultural and artistic experts to form a panel to make on-the-spot judgments of the contestants performance.