Language contest serves to boost mutual understanding

SAN FRANCISCO - A dozen American high school students posed merrily for a group photo, each holding a painting or drawing to which they put a final touch minutes ago last Saturday in a contest on Chinese language and arts in western California.

The students, from Justin-Siena High School in Napa city of northern California, joined their peers of other schools from various places of San Francisco on the country's west coast for the annual 14th Chinese Language Bridge Cup Contest, which opened here for a two-day event.

Shelby Thomason, an 11th-grade girl from the high school, completed a piece of oil painting of a tree in leafy profusion in the two-hour contest, which she said represented hopes and life for everyone on the planet.