The Power of Ni Hao.docVIP

The Power of Ni Hao 　　‘Everyone who visits Hunan [Province] comes here，” said Xiao Yuanyuan， pointing at the serene hall of the Yuelu Academy with its inscribed walls and sylvan surroundings. In the course of her career at the Information Office of the Government of Hunan Province in central China， Xiao has personally escorted many groups of visitors to this five-star heritage site in Changsha， the provincial capital. It is the place where scholars and students flocked thousands of years ago to learn philosophy and the Chinese classics from revered masters. 　　The Yuelu Academy， one of China’s four foremost ancient schools of learning， is as renowned in its own way as the Academy of Greek philosopher Plato in Athens in 387 B.C.， or the school in ancient Egypt’s Alexandria around 306 B.C.， or closer home and in time， the Nalanda school in India in the fifth century. But unlike the others， which were destroyed in the course of time， the Yuelu Academy， founded in 976 during the reign of the Song Dynasty （960-1279）， is still alive， transformed into the Hunan University in 1926. 　　It is therefore fitting that Changsha， home to China’s oldest surviving academic institution， plays host to an annual academic contest that is like no other educational examination today. In its 14th year， the 2015 Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students held under the aegis of the Confucius Institute Headquarters （Hanban） and the Hunan Provincial Government has evolved into a spellbinder of a reality show that is a cross between America’s Got Talent and the British version of Big Brother combined with a dash of the Oscars. 　　Once， it would have been inconceivable that hundreds of young people worldwide would give up all normal pursuits for months on end and go into rigorous training for something that is essentially an academic exercise―learning Chinese， a language considered difficult to master， and learning about China， its history， geography， trade