Intercultural Ambassadors.docVIP

Intercultural Ambassadors 　　Ratsizakaina Isaia Herimialy has traveled thousands of miles from her home in Madagascar， an island country off the southeastern coast of the African continent， to China with one goal： to learn the Chinese language and know more about Chinese culture. 　　“Chinese is difficult but beautiful，” the 20-year-old said with a smile. 　　Two years after her arrival， Isaia is close to her dream， having recently won a prestigious―but tough―Chinese language contest. 　　On November 22， the curtain rang down on another successful edition of the Chinese Bridge―Sino-African Friendship Knowledge Competition at the Beijing Language and Culture University. Sponsored by the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation （FOCAC） and the Confucius Institute Headquarters（Hanban）， the contest was a prelude to the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit in early December， which mapped out new plans for China-Africa cooperation in the years to come. 　　Over 100 youths from 37 African countries and 30 Chinese universities took part in the final in Beijing after passing preliminaries， which started in September. Isaia’s team， Scaling New Heights， was declared the winner following three individual rounds―a written test， a public speech contest and a talent show―and a team round. All competitions were conducted in Chinese. 　　The three-member team also included Mohamed Hamed Mohamed Hussain from Sudan， who has a Chinese name as well―Hei Long， meaning a black dragon， and Wu Xiaorui， a student of Shandong Normal University. During the final， lots were drawn to form the teams and the three were clubbed together. They became teammates and friends from strangers， “fighting” side by side. And the hard work paid off with their outstanding performance in the team round of the final， which won the audience over and fetched them the championship trophy. 　　 Friendship envoys 　　Though a random lottery apparently brought the three together， fate c