Contest grows with the times

The Third Belt and Road Youth English Speaking Competition and the China Daily "21st Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition were held at the Business &Innovation Center for China-Europe Cooperation in Chengdu, Sichuan province from Oct 3 to 6.

Wang Licheng, from Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU, gained a huge popularity online even before he championed the Senior High School category on Oct 6. In an impromptu speech on Oct 4, he quoted Chinese scholar Gu Hongming from the TV drama The Age of Awakening, defining "the spirit of the Chinese people" as "inexpressibly gentle, with the combination of intelligence and sympathy". The Age of Awakening tells the story of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921 and has become a big hit among young people in China.

In his inspiring speech, Wang further talked about his understanding of "once-in-a-century change", which is not COVID-19, economic crisis or environmental crises. "We are the change. China is the change," he said.

A total of 1 million people, ranging from kindergarten kids to young professionals, participated in this year's "21st Century Cup". Contestants demonstrated both their language command and their opinions about the world through topics like "Things I Wish To Say To The Party","History As A Mirror" and "The Promise Of Youth".

Meanwhile, more than 200 young people from over 30 countries and regions participated in this year's Belt and Road competition, speaking on topics like "Healing The World" and "Is Cooperation Always More Powerful Than Competition?" Rutayisire Mahoro Dianah, 21, from Rwanda, claimed the second place with her critical thinking over the "dilemma" of cooperation versus competition. "Competition makes us faster but cooperation makes us better," she said. She expects "a world in which we can work together and collaborate to achieve a lot, but still have free will".

For Agyapong Juliana from Ghana, what matters more is not winning or losing. "When you travel from your country, you don't really have a lot of chances to express yourself," said the 22-year-old. "It (the competition) is a chance for me to put myself out there for people to know more about Africa, where I'm from and what Africa really means."

The"21st Century Cup" was initiated by the China Daily Group in 1996. It encourages students to improve their English public speaking skills, utilize creativity, and broaden their international view. The annual competition spans across various cities in China, with more than 80 regions participating.

In 1996, when the competition was launched, the aim was to train college students to be proficient in another language and communicate clearly with the world. However, in the 25 years since then, the competition has gone far beyond this simple goal. It now plays a role in helping document every major step the country takes in its development, while also encouraging young people to share China's stories with the world and giving voice to those who will shape the future.

In 2001, the theme for the final in the competition's college category was "Beijing 2008: the meaning of the bid". The competition was held in March that year, four months before July 13, the day when Beijing was announced as the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2018, college contestants spoke about the "New era: China and the world". Fast forward to this year and speech topics centered on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and the Gen-Zers' role in this great era.

Motivated by topics such as these, young contestants have managed to shape their individual dreams in the big picture of national and international development. The competition itself is also developing from a platform into a bridge. In its first 23 years, the competition was only for Chinese. As the competition's influence grows and the Gen-Zers develop a stronger desire to communicate in face of a shared future, the first international category of the "21st Century Cup" was launched in 2019.