Finalists chosen on May 13 will compete in Beijing this summer

SAN FRANCISCO, April 17, 2006 -- San Francisco State University's Confucius Institute will host the Bay Area semifinals of the fifth Chinese Bridge-Chinese Proficiency Competition for college students on May 13. Two finalists will receive an all-expense paid trip to Beijing July 19 through 29 to compete against students from other countries.

The competition is sponsored by Hanban, the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. Only students whose first language is not Chinese will be eligible. Contenders must also be matriculated college students under age 30, be able to communicate in Mandarin, and have knowledge of Chinese society, art and culture. Semifinalists will be chosen from applications. The deadline for applications is April 30.

Semifinalists will be required to demonstrate Chinese speaking skills in a three minute speech on the topic, "An Ethnically Diverse China." Each contestant will demonstrate his or her knowledge of China by answering a series of question relating to various aspects of Chinese life and culture. Lastly, each contestant will be asked to demonstrate his or her Chinese cultural skills by playing a traditional Chinese instrument or performing a traditional Chinese art such as song, dance, opera, calligraphy, painting, paper cutting or martial art.

The Saturday, May 13, competition will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Knuth Hall in the Creative Arts building on the SFSU campus at 1600 Holloway Ave. in San Francisco. Judges will be representatives from the local Chinese education and cultural community.

For applications and more information visit the Confucius Institute Web site at www.sfsu.edu/~ci, call (415) 338-7631 or e-mail ci@sfsu.edu.

China's National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban) established the Chinese Bridge-Chinese Proficient Competition for Foreign College Students in 2001 to encourage students from all over the world to study Chinese.

The Confucius Institute at SFSU is a partnership between the University and Beijing Normal University. The institute provides Chinese language teacher training, language courses and avenues for academic research, outreach and exchange.