The picture is David with his certificate of award. On April 27, the contest of the 17th“Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Hungarian College Students, co-organized by the Culture and Education Office of the Embassy of PRC in Hungary and the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine at University of Pecs, was held in Pecs, a southwestern city of Hungary. Among the 15 contestants from 6 colleges, David, a junior student of National University of Public Service, won the competition. (By Yang Yongqian, journalist with Xinhua News Agency)
“As a Chinese proverb goes, ‘A family with an old person has a living treasure of gold.’ It is natural that an old person has accumulated rich experience from a lifetime of revolutionary work. However, old Chinese people’s knowledge about modern science and technology is beyond my imagination.”
This is the opening remarks made by David, a junior student of National University of Public Service, when he attended the contest of the 17th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Hungarian College Students
On April 27, the contest of the 17th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Hungarian College Students, co-organized by the Culture and Education Office of the Embassy of PRC in Hungary and the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine at University of Pecs, was held in Pecs, a southwestern city of Hungary. Among the 15 contestants from 6 colleges, David stood out and won the competition.
The handsome boy, who is 22 years old, spent his sophomore year studying in the Central South University in Changsha, Hunan. Under the theme of this year’s contest, i.e. “One World, One Family”, he shared what he experienced in Changsha.
One day, David went shopping. He suddenly realized that he forgot to bring money when he was about to pay at the cashier. “I was so embarrassed that my face turned crimson quickly. What should I do?” At this point, a 70-years old lady waiting behind in the queue said, “Young boy, you have the phone with you?” Then, she taught him how to use the Wechat Wallet.
“This is the first time I learned to pay with Wechat”, said David.
Then, he told another story of his experience in a shopping center. It was very hot, and David was thirsty. When he was about to buy drinks from a vending machine, he found that he had no coins. At this moment, an old lady approached, and pointed at a small microphone on the machine. She taught him how to use Alipay Sound Wave. “I learned about high technology from another Chinese old lady.”
At the end of his speech, David said, “As a student of the Police Academy, I have long known a Chinese saying that you should call the police whenever you are in trouble. However, I have another advice for you: Turn to old ladies whenever you are in trouble.”
David’s humorous speech provoked laughter among the judging panel and audience. David also performed well at quiz and talent show. After three rounds of competition, both David and Fei Baige, a student of the Confucius Institute at the University of Szeged, obtained the highest score of 342. After a play-off match, David won the contest.
After the competition, David was very excited and told the journalists that yesterday was his birthday and he took the award as his birthday gift.
David’s instructor is Hungarian sinologist Bei Shan. According to Bei Shan, David is a talented and hard-working student, who not only performs well in his major, but also speaks Chinese very well.
David will graduate this year and become a policeman for the Police Department of Budapest.
“Will you have a chance to speak Chinese when working at the police department?”, asked a journalist.
“There is a large Chinese population in Budapest, so there will be opportunities to use the language”, replied David.
The journalist said in a joking tone, “I will call you if I run into trouble.”
David laughed and said, “Right, just call the police whenever you are in trouble.”
