National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall held “2020 Foreign Students Chinese Public Speaking Competition.” Today (November 24) the winners list came out after the judges’ heated discussion. Mr. 貝德旭 from the UK was the champion. The winners from the first to the fourth place as well as the six merit award winners can receive the certificate of merit and reward. Every participant is given the Chinese and English certificates of participation. The award-giving ceremony was held after the competition and the list of all winners was announced.
This year is the 155th anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s birthday. The hall held a series of memorial activities at the beginning of November. Having been held for 48 years since the opening of the hall in 1972, the celebration is most indicative and everlasting. Without being affected by the epidemic, it is also held this year, which deepens the meaning of the historical heritage. The hall will continue to promote the diverse ethnic integration and provide the foreign students with the chances to speak out their opinions.
The 55 foreign students participating in the competition today come from 12 countries. The two major categories “Post-epidemic Era” and “My Observation of Taiwan” include five topics: “The International Issue I Care For,” “My Opinion on Taiwan’s Epidemic Prevention Experience,” “Taiwanese People, Please Listen to Me,” “The Best Place I’ve Ever Been to in Taiwan,” and “Own and Share.” The hall has cultivated the foreign students’ motivation to care for the international affairs and assisted them in accumulating the experience of public deliberation for a long term. All participants have the equal rights of speaking, freely expressing their viewpoints and opinions and in this way learning each other’s advantages and tolerating the culture of each other’s country. This truthfully presents Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s spirit of world harmony and fraternity.
At the opening, Director-general Wang Lan-sheng encouraged the participating students by saying: Oral expression plays a significant part in the course of life. Communication lies in the precise expression. It is very important whether people communicate face to face or on social media. The hall has held the Chinese public speaking competition for 48 years, that is, nearly half century. The past winners had the excellent achievements in both schoolwork and personal performance. At present, the hall is planning to expand the scale of the 50th competition, expecting that it will call for more students from the different countries to learn Chinese in Taiwan, actively participate in the competition, and support the activities held by National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
When giving the prizes after the competition, Director-general Wang Lan-sheng said that he admired the students who attended the competition by speaking Chinese, which is not their mother tongue, and that every student did a great job. For example, a student made the metaphor of chopsticks by extending the ideas of heaven, earth, and man and of Ying and Yang, containing the Chinese cultural content in the speech and deeply touching the judges and audience on the scene. Today’s competition enabled National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to receive the feedbacks from the participating students from the different countries. To meet the needs from the different cultural backgrounds, Taiwan will continue to provide more friendly and internationalized service.
The judge, Prof. Li Zhen-qing, said he was touched by the competition. Based on the theory of language learning, the first step is the wide, intensive, and close reading to absorb the new knowledge and broaden horizons. After imitation and internalization, the language ability will be developed. It is expected that the students will make inferences and create the beautiful level in life in the future.
After the 7-hour tense competition evaluated carefully by the judges including Prof. Li Zhen-qing, Prof. Chen Li-yuan, Prof. Chen Yan-hao, Prof. Zhang Mei-ling, and Prof. Xie Jia-ling, the winners list was announced: first place貝德旭 (UK), second place 高鵬 (USA), third place 艾凱爾 (USA), fourth place 溫信(USA); 6 merit award winners: 鍾銘旭(Thailand), 葉名妙 (Thailand), 樊博聞(Peru), 杜黃山（Vietnam）, Ido Miyuki伊藤美雪(Japan), 范氏情(Vietnam).
The hall holds Foreign Students Chinese Public Speaking Competition every year so that the foreign students in Taiwan will have a proper platform to express their learning result and personal opinion and show their passion and aspiration for the culture of Taiwan. Besides assisting the foreign students in successfully integrating into the local environment and develop their interest in learning Chinese, the activity also manifests the Taiwanese people’s enthusiasm and care for the foreign students.