Promoting People-to-People Exchanges and Mutual Learning with the Chinese Language as the Bridge
驻印度大使孙卫东在第21届“汉语桥”印度赛区颁奖活动上的讲话
Speech by H.E. Ambassador Sun Weidong at Award Ceremony of the 21st “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition in India
2022年7月4日
4 July 2022
各位来宾、各位评委、各位选手，
老师们、同学们，
女士们、先生们、朋友们：
Distinguished guests, judges and candidates,
Dear teachers and students,
Ladies, Gentlemen and Friends,
大家下午好！
Good afternoon！
很高兴出席今天的颁奖活动。首先祝贺第21届“汉语桥”中文比赛印度赛区活动取得圆满成功！感谢所有选手的积极参与和有关院校的支持，感谢评委老师及组委会的辛勤工作。祝贺Darshana Dewashi（中文名高冰颖）同学获得本届比赛的冠军，你将代表印度的同学们，与世界各国学习中文的选手一起，竞逐全球总决赛，希望你再次取得好成绩。
It is my great pleasure to attend the award ceremony today. First of all, I would like to congratulate on the full success of the 21st “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition in India. Thanks for the participation of all contestants and the support from relevant universities and institutions. Thanks to the judges and the organizing committee for their hard work. Congratulations to Ms. Darshana Dewashi (Gao Bingying in Chinese) for obtaining the championship of this competition. You will represent the Indian students and compete in the global finals together with the learners of Chinese all over the world. I hope you can achieve good results again.
中文是世界上使用人数最多的语言，学好中文就是抓住机遇，拥抱未来。大家参与的“汉语桥”比赛是国际人文交流的重要品牌活动，被誉为中文“奥林匹克”竞赛，是世界各国中文学习者展示中文水平、交流学习经验和检验学习成果的重要平台。
Chinese is spoken by the largest number of people in the world. To learn Chinese well is to seize opportunities and embrace the future. The “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition you participated in is an important featured event for international cultural exchanges, which is reputed as the Chinese language “Olympics” Competition. It is a platform for Chinese learners from all over the world to show their Chinese proficiency, communicate their learning experience and test their learning achievements.
今年的比赛，同学们认真准备、积极参与，展示了一定的中文能力和才艺水平。通过观看活动视频和听取大家的发言，我能感受到大家学习中文、了解中国及中华文化的热情，感受到大家学习中文的执着和在疫情困扰下的坚守，感受到大家以中文“搭桥”，共同推动中印乃至世界人文交流互鉴的希望和力量。
In this year’s competition, the students got well prepared and participated actively, which showcased their excellent Chinese ability. While watching the video of the event and listening to the speeches, I can feel the enthusiasm of everyone who aspires to learn Chinese well and understand China and Chinese culture better. I can perceive your devotion to learn Chinese and your perseverance during the epidemic. I can see the hope and strength to jointly promote people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning between China, India and even the whole world with Chinese language as the bridge.
老师们、同学们、朋友们，
Dear teachers, students, and friends,
中国国家主席习近平指出，“世界各国尽管有这样那样的分歧矛盾，也免不了产生这样那样的磕磕碰碰，但世界各国人民都生活在同一片蓝天下、拥有同一个家园，应该是一家人。世界各国人民应该秉持’天下一家’理念，张开怀抱，彼此理解，求同存异，共同为构建人类命运共同体而努力”。
As Chinese President Xi Jinping has pointed out, “Countries may have various kinds of differences and disagreements and even encounter problems with each other, which is to be expected. But people from all over the world live under the same sky, share one and the same home planet and belong to one and the same family. People across the world should be guided by the vision that all the people under the heaven are of one family, embrace each other with open arms, enhance mutual understanding, and seek common ground while setting aside differences. Together, we should endeavor to build a community with a shared future for mankind.”
“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛坚持以“天下一家”为主题，体现了中国人特有的“协和万邦”的天下观，这就是协调不同国家之间的关系，促进各个国家相互尊重、相互合作、共同发展。
“Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students adheres to the theme of “One World, One Family”, which is the manifestation of the unique Chinese worldview of “All nations should live in harmony” which means coordinating the relations among different countries and promoting mutual respect, cooperation and common development.
当前，疫情阴霾仍困扰全球，乌克兰危机硝烟又起，世界正经历百年未有之大变局，没有哪个国家能够独自应各种挑战，世界太需要对话、沟通、交流、理解了。学好相互的语言，就为我们搭建起沟通和理解的桥梁，达成同舟共济的共识，共同维护世界和平与发展。中印两国总共有28亿多人口，占世界人口的三分之一。这意味着，中印两国和睦相处、共同发展，将对人类的和平发展事业作出重大贡献。
At present, the shadow of the epidemic is still inflicting the world, and the Ukraine crisis is lingering on. The world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. No country can cope with the challenges alone. The world is in urgent need of dialogue, communication, exchange and understanding. By learning each other’s language, we could build a bridge of communication and understanding, reach the consensus of helping each other in times of difficulty, and jointly uphold world peace and development. The population of China and India totally amounts to over 2.8 billion which accounts for one-third of the world’s population. This means that harmonious coexistence and common development of China and India will make great contribution to the cause of peace and development of mankind.
老师们，同学们、朋友们，
Dear teachers, students, and friends,
就在上月底，习近平主席主持金砖国家领导人第十四次会晤，与莫迪总理及俄罗斯、巴西、南非领导人相聚云端、共商大计，擘画了金砖国家合作发展新的宏伟蓝图，向世界发出了要和平不要战争、要发展不要倒退、要开放不要封闭、要团结不要分裂、要合作不要对抗的时代强音。
At the end of last month, President Xi Jinping chaired the 14th BRICS Summit, shared thoughts with Prime Minister Modi and leaders of BRICS partners including Russia, Brazil and South Africa online, drawing a new grand blueprint for BRICS cooperation, and sending out a powerful message of this era to the world calling for peace not war, development not regression, openness not isolation, solidarity not division, and cooperation not confrontation.
金砖国家领导人会晤通过的《北京宣言》，重申人文交流在增进金砖国家及人民间相互了解和友谊、促进合作等方面的重要性，并将支持包括职业教育在内的教育数字化转型，致力于实现教育可及性与公平性，促进教育高质量发展。
The Beijing Declaration issued by the BRICS Summit, reaffirms the importance of people-to-people exchanges in enhancing mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation among BRICS nations and people. It also declares to support the digital transformation of education including vocational education, commit to ensure education accessibility and equity, promote the development of quality education.
围绕“构建高质量伙伴关系，共创全球发展新时代”的主题，今年将主办170多场各领域金砖活动，预计达成30多项重大成果，教育是其中重要组成部分。在各方支持下，我们牵头成立了金砖国家职业教育联盟，举办金砖国家职业技能大赛，加强金砖国家网络大学和金砖国家大学联盟合作，最大程度提高教师和学生之间的交流水平，为新兴市场国家之间的合作注入新活力。
Focusing on the theme of “Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development”, 170 BRICS events in various fields will be held throughout the year, over 30 major outcomes will be expected, among which education plays an important part. With the strong support of all parties, we have initiated the establishment of BRICS TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) Cooperation Alliance, launched the BRICS Skills Competition, strengthened the cooperation within BRICS Network University and BRICS University League, and maximized the level of communication among teachers and students in BRICS countries, which injects new vitality to the cooperation among emerging market countries.
中印同为发展中大国，是世界上拥有青年人最多的国家。金砖国家将举行青年峰会，支持青年优先发展理念，鼓励加强金砖国家青年交流。希望中印两国青年能够珍视彼此的友谊，共同维护好两国人文交流的大趋势，相互学习，共同进步。
China and India are both developing countries and have the largest number of young people in the world. The BRICS will hold Youth Summit, which support youth development as a priority and encourage strengthened exchanges among BRICS youth. It is hoped that young people of China and India will cherish the friendship between them, jointly safeguard the general trend of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries, learn from each other and make common progress.
老师们，同学们、朋友们，
Dear teachers, students, and friends,
在新冠疫情仍反复延宕的情况下，中国政府始终坚持“人民至上、生命至上”理念，制定了符合本国实际情况的“动态清零”防疫政策并取得显著成效。中国在确保防疫安全前提下，始终为确有需要来华的外国人提供便利，并不断动态调整签证政策。中国高度重视印度留学生的返华复课关切，已经启动相关工作，双方还就中印恢复直航保持密切沟通。希望在不久的将来，中印之间人员往来和教育文化交流会更加便利。
With the COVID-19 pandemic still dragging on, the Chinese government has been committed to a people-first and life-first philosophy and formulated a dynamic zero-COVID epidemic prevention policy based on China’s national realities, and has achieved remarkable results. On the premise of ensuring the safety for epidemic prevention, China has always provided convenience to foreigners who really need to come to China, and has constantly adjusted its visa policy dynamically. China attaches great importance to the concerns of Indian students returning to China and has started relevant work, and maintained close communication with its Indian counterpart on the resumption of direct flights between China and India. We hope that people-to-people exchanges as well as educational and cultural communications between China and India will be more convenient in days to come.
印度年轻人具有学习多种语言的天赋。印度有着东方独特的古老文明，印度青年理应在“汉语桥”全球决赛中发挥水平、崭露头角。希望同学们努力学好中文，利用自己熟知中文的优势，深入了解中华文化和中国人民，结交中国朋友，向他们介绍印度风土人情、民俗习惯，也把中国的文化、历史和民间故事带回印度，争当促进中印友好、践行“天下一家”的文化使者。
Indian young people have the gift for multilingual learning. India has the unique ancient civilization of the East. Indian youth will surely show their talent and brilliance in the final of “Chinese Bridge”. I hope that the students strive to learn Chinese well and take the advantage of your good understanding of Chinese to further comprehend Chinese culture and Chinese people, make Chinese friends and introduce Indian customs and folklore to them, bring back Chinese culture, history and stories to India as well, and endeavor to become the cultural messengers for promoting China-India friendship and implementing “One World, one Family”.
借此机会，我向在印度从事中文教育的老师和学校领导们表示衷心的感谢！我们将一如既往地鼓励和支持更多印度青年学生赴华学习深造，积极搭建两国青年沟通交流的友谊桥梁。
I would like to also express my heartfelt thanks to all the teachers and school leaders dedicated to Chinese education in India. We will, as always, encourage and support more and more Indian young students to study in China and actively build a bridge of friendship for communication and exchanges between the youth of our two countries.
最后，祝大家学业进步，身体健康，一切顺利。
Finally, I wish you all academic progress, good health and all the best.
谢谢大家！
Thank you all!