Students rise to English excellence

The final rounds of two English speaking competitions hosted by China Daily - one for college students and another for high school and primary students - wrapped up in Beijing on Sunday, recognizing top English speakers.

Zhu Xue, a sophomore at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was named grand champion of the 21st Century Coca-Cola Cup National English Speaking Competition for college students.

Unlike many of the contestants who were English majors, Zhu is enrolled in the university's medical program. She said the competition provided an opportunity to give voice to her thoughts and opinions.

The latest competition kicked off in May, with about 110,000 students from across the country participating. Sixty-seven reached the final round.

China Daily launched the competition in 1996.

This year's final theme - "The world is too much with us" - required three responses: a prepared speech, an impromptu speech and a question and answer session. Contestants were assessed on speech content, language quality and the general impression left on judges.

Also concluding on Sunday was the 14th 21st Century New Oriental Cup National High School and Primary School English Speaking Competition - China Daily's contest for younger students.

This competition, also starting in May, began with more than 500,000 participants. The list was whittled down to 172 outstanding contestants for the final round.

Wang Xiwen, a high school student at Shanghai Foreign Language School, was awarded the top prize and will represent Chinese students in a global English speaking competition to be held in London in May, together with Chen Mengzhu of New York University Shanghai, who won the first prize in the competition for university students, below the grand champion.

Zhu Ling, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, accompanied Mei Renyi, his English professor when he was studying at Beijing Foreign Studies University in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in handing out awards to the winners.

Qu Yingpu, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said at the awards ceremony that the competitions were compelling and the contestants were of high caliber.

"They showed remarkable poise and grace under intense pressure," he said.

The grand champion, the runners-up and other prize winners will be awarded a study trip, either to the United States, United Kingdom or Australia, or to the Hong Kong or Macao regions of China.

Tang Wensheng, a former question master in the competition and a well-known interpreter who currently serves as an adviser to the Translators Association of China, said she hoped all the contestants found the competition worth-while, whether they won a prize or not.

"China has many stories to be told, but not many people can tell them effectively," she said.

"It will fall to you of the younger generations of China to be the voices of China in the future."