Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

THE 12th Shenzhen Expats Chinese Talent Competition, an annual event for Chinese culture enthusiasts, was held yesterday at the Westin Shenzhen Nanshan hotel, with 12 expats from eight countries sharing their life in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) in fluent Chinese.

The competition consisted of three rounds — a topical speech in Chinese about life in the GBA, a Chinese word-guessing game and a talent show.

From the plan for the development of the GBA and the masterplan to build Shenzhen into a demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics to new blueprints formulated for Guangdong-Macao and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation zones, the GBA is becoming a focus not only for the Chinese but also for expats residing in the area.

During the topical speech session, 12 finalists, divided into adult and juvenile groups, shared changes brought by the construction of the GBA and their stories in the area.

The teenage group’s first-prize winner, Deborshmi Nath, a 10-year-old Indian girl, shared her life in Zhuhai.

She said: “I am really into the city. Zhuhai is like a beautiful and thought-provoking story. Sunrise, waves, sea breeze and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, all the sceneries gave me a unique experience.”

American lawyer Charles Stone started his speech by citing a Chinese poem he wrote. He also shared the story behind a poem he improvised during a visit to Guangzhou. The on-site audience was gripped by his real passion for Chinese poetry.

Kim Moon-cheol, a South Korean postgraduate student in Shenzhen University’s College of International Exchange, came to Shenzhen in 2018 for a bachelor’s degree program. During that time, Kim was invited to introduce his country’s culture to Nanshan primary and middle school students.

Kim said that he aims to become a cultural ambassador to promote Chinese culture and to contribute to exchanges and communications between South Korea and China after graduation.

The talent show ended in a gigantic round of applause for performances presented by the 12 finalists.

Russian girl Raisa Denisova, who comes from a musical family, went up the stage to perform a cello solo.

Indian girl Mokshika Tyagi, dressed in Hanfu or traditional Han Chinese clothing, delivered a Chinese dance performance. South Korean Oh Aroum recited the “Ballad of Mulan” and bagged the first place in the adult group.

Launched in 2010, the contest is an annual event hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Government Information Office and organized by Shenzhen Daily and eyeshenzhen.com, the city’s English-language portal.