In the months of April and May 2023, the second edition of the Turkish University Students' Chinese Poetry Recitation Competition and the Turkish University Students' Chinese Karaoke Competition were successfully held at Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University. These events aimed to showcase the artistic talents and cultural spirit of Turkish learners of the Chinese language, as well as to foster and discover Chinese language talents across various universities in Turkey. The competitions spanned nearly two months, starting with the release of competition information in early March and concluding in late May.
Participants from different universities submitted their video entries online for both competitions. The Chinese Poetry Recitation Competition received entries from five participating schools, totaling 17 submissions. The Karaoke Competition, on the other hand, had six participating schools, with a total of eight entries and eight participants. The Chinese Poetry Recitation Competition awarded one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes, and five honorable mentions. The Chinese Karaoke Competition recognized one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes, and two honorable mentions.
On May 27, 2023, the award ceremony for both events took place online in Turkey. The ceremony was attended by esteemed individuals including Wang Wu, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Bogazici University; Wu Tianxi, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Middle East Technical University; Bahar Kılıç (Li Chun), the Turkish director of the Confucius Institute at Okan University; Fatma Ecem CEYLAN, the head of the Chinese Department at Nevşehir Haci Bektas Veli University; Lale Aydin, a Chinese Language teacher from Istanbul University; Huang Ru, a representative of Chinese teachers from Social Sciences University of Ankara.; the Chinese and Turkish directors of the Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University; the Chinese coordinators of all participating universities; and the participating students.
During the award ceremony, Zhang Huijing, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University, provided a brief overview of the competitions, expressing gratitude for the active participation of sister institutes and offering words of encouragement to the enthusiastic students who took part. Subsequently, outstanding works from both competitions were showcased and played, receiving unanimous praise from all attendees. Ebrar Çalışkan (Xin Hui) from Okan University, the first prize winner of the second Chinese Poetry Recitation Competition, delivered a speech on behalf of all participants. Gülnur Eralp (Xia Lin) from Nevşehir Haci Bektas Veli University, who won the first prize in the Chinese Karaoke Competition and the second prize in the Chinese Poetry Recitation Competition, also expressed her joy for the awards and conveyed her gratitude to her mentors and the host, Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University . Lastly, Ayşe Öztürk (Huang Ru), the Chinese teacher from Social Sciences University of Ankara., was invited to share her experience in organizing the competition. She discussed the process of selecting classic Chinese poems from different eras and by various poets, followed by close collaboration between teachers and students, focusing on aspects such as pronunciation and emotions. As a result, four out of six students from Social Sciences University of Ankara. received awards in the competition. Huang expressed her gratitude to Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University for organizing these two events and highly praised the organization of the activities.
This year's events saw increased participation from more universities, with higher levels of students' language proficiency and the quality of their works. Through these activities, closer and broader connections and exchanges were established among sister Confucius Institutes and universities offering Chinese language programs, including Istanbul University, Ankara University, Nevşehir Haci Bektas Veli University, and Social Sciences University of Ankara.This aligns with the original intent of Confucius Institute at Yeditepe University in organizing these events.
written by Ju Tang