Georgina spreads word about Chinese language, culture

Asian Studies

Bachelor of Arts student Georgina Day has taken out third place in a national Chinese language event hosted by the University of Adelaide's Confucius Institute.

Georgina, 19, was one of 24 contestants from four Australian states to pit their Chinese language, culture and history skills against each other in the preliminary finals of a Chinese Proficiency Competition.

The top two finalists - winner Matt Coleman from the University of Queensland and second placegetter Patrick Mayoh from the Australian National University - will receive an all-expenses paid trip to China in July for the finals.

Georgina was the highest placed of the 16 University of Adelaide contestants who performed before an enthusiastic crowd at the National Wine Centre last month.

Contestants had to complete a written general knowledge test, deliver a prepared speech and give a cultural Chinese performance - all in Mandarin - before a panel of judges and the public.

Although narrowly missing out on the finals, Georgina said the competition was a "wonderful experience".
The first year student is completing a Bachelor of Arts/Teaching and is also studying second year Mandarin.

A scholarship from the Australia-China Council allowed Georgina to spend 12 months in 2007 studying Mandarin at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.

"I had a ball. My heart is still in China and I miss it so much," she said.

Although born and raised in Adelaide, Georgina's mother is Chinese and was adopted by an Australian couple as a baby.

"I like to pretend I'm Chinese, but I'm not - I'm an Aussie and proud of it! However, I want to encourage a better cross-cultural understanding between the two nationalities.

"I'm studying Mandarin because I would love to be a teacher and work in both countries. China fascinates me in all respects - the population, language and culture. Hopefully I'll be able to live, study and work there at some time in the future."

The Chinese Proficiency Competition was filmed by a crew from China's Hunan Satellite Television as part of an Australian special, similar to Australian Idol, and will be aired to millions of viewers in China in coming months.

It was the first time that Adelaide had hosted the competition - now in its seventh year - which is open to university students aged between 18 and 30, who are not born or raised in China.

Meanwhile, the 2008 South Australian round of the National Chinese Speaking Competition for secondary school students has been conducted jointly by the Chinese Language Teachers' Association of South Australia and the Confucius Institute at the University of Adelaide.

There were 17 candidates from 12 schools. The winner of the section for students with a Chinese background was Alan Xu of St Peters College, and winner of the section for students without a Chinese background was Madeleine Leung of Walford College.

The President of the Chinese Teachers' Association of South Australia, Ms Jenny Jin, said all of the participating students, and all students who learn Chinese, will be well placed to participate in the career opportunities created by the growing links between China and Australia.

Story by Candy Gibson