Chinese Bridge contestants experience traditional culture in Changsha

Three contestants of the 17th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students got a special look into rural innovation and entrepreneurship at the Changsha County Fubei Innovation and Entrepreneurship Service Center.

Chinese Bridge is a Chinese language competition for foreign college students promoted by the Confucius Institute headquarters. Since it began in 2002, more than 600 contestants from over 50 countries throughout the world have participated in the annual competitions.

This year, Chinese Bridge introduced a new activity for the top 15 contestants to help them learn more about China and better integrate into Chinese society.

Qi Shanxin from Italy, Gu Yige from Mongolia and Deng Ken from Ghana participated in practical activities in Changsha county, such as extracting honey at Honghua Bee Cooperative, making pottery at Quanmeng ceramics workshops, and experiencing traditional Chinese marriage customs.

Three foreigners now have a better understanding of traditional Chinese customs and folk handicrafts, and also know more about rural innovation and entrepreneurship in Changsha county, due to the strategy of rejuvenating the Chinese countryside.

The Changsha County Fubei Innovation and Entrepreneurship Service Center is a county-level platform for innovative entrepreneurship. The service center engages in maker policy consultation, project reception, resource docking, organizing recruitment activities and dynamic management. It also provides land transfer, patent trademark application, and resource fusion services. There are currently 138 high-quality makerspaces and more than 2,600 employees in the center.