Bulgaria holds "Chinese Bridge" contest for high school students

SOFIA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian national qualification contest of the 16th "Chinese Bridge", a Chinese language proficiency competition for high school students, was held here on Sunday.

At the 16th "Chinese Bridge" held in the Multifunctional Hall of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, 19 teenage contestants demonstrated their language skills, gaining rounds of applause from the spectators.

Jana Todorova from 18th William Gladstone High School in Sofia won the competition, gaining a total of 98.5 points out of 100, and will represent Bulgaria at the final stage in China.

Vasco Vascov from Sofia's 138 High School for Western and Eastern Languages, who came second with 97.2 points, will attend the finals in China as a spectator.

Todorova, 16, told Xinhua that she has been studying Chinese for almost three years, and it opened the door for her to the culture and all the beauties associated with the Chinese language.

At first, she considered learning Korean, then Japanese, but "one day I heard a very beautiful Chinese song on YouTube, and because of that, I decided that I just have to learn Chinese, and I will be the best," Todorova said.

The event is organized by the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria and Confucius Institute in Sofia, and co-organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Veliko Turnovo.