UN Chinese Language Day 2024

To celebrate the UN Chinese Language Day, which is on 20th April 2024, Zhaoxia Pang, Lecturer in Chinese, would like to share the successful story of SOAS undergraduate student Yumi Yong. 

Yumi Yong, who studied Chinese (CH3) as an elective module, won the 2nd prize in last year’s Chinese Bridge Competition in the UK. Chinese Bridge is an international competition in which non-Chinese university students can demonstrate their knowledge of Chinese language and culture. Due to Yumi's excellent performance, she was selected to represent UK university students to go to China for the final stage of the Bridge competition.  

The three-week’s visit in China has given Yumi the most unforgettable experience. She said:

“During the competition, more than 100 students from 120 countries came together. We embarked on an unforgettable journey across cities like Beijing, Nanjing and Guilin. The Chinese people we met were incredibly kind, always ensuring that we had the best possible experience. Our presence was documented for television shows and radio programs, affording me the opportunity to participate in numerous interviews. These experiences significantly elevated my Chinese language skills”.

Among contestants from over 120 countries, Yumi won the "Most Popular Contestant Award".

Zhaoxia Pang, her Chinese language teacher and her coach for the Bridge competition said “I can see that Yumi has made tremendous progress in Chinese after she was back from China and now in the CH4 module. I am so proud of her and wish her dream to work in the UN after graduation come true.” 

Her success not only shows her great effort in improving her Chinese language, but also demonstrates the quality of SOAS’s Chinese elective courses and promotes the publicity of SOAS in the UK as well as globally.