Over the weekend, Daniel Siaffa, a student of the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), won the Confucius competition, defeating nine other university colleagues at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown.
The Confucius competition is a Chinese competition organised by the Confucius Institute to groom non-Chinese nationals in the Chinese language and see how these individuals who have studied the language can be tested.
And on Saturday was the peak of the bunch, where Siaffa from IPAM emerged as the grand winner, who will eventually represent Sierra Leone at the World Chinese Bridge competition, after edging past contenders from the Fourah Bay College, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, Milton Margai, amongst others.
The ten participants were graded on their prepared speech, question and answer session, and finally on their talent show.
In all of these, Siaffa topped the grading table. And after his victory, he told Awoko that he started studying the Chinese language between 2017 and 2018, and as a result of the passion he has for learning the language, it has helped him greatly to master key pronunciations.
He said he emerged as the winner not because he could now speak Chinese but because he was able to deliver effective Chinese pronunciations, which the rest were not able to match. "I will definitely make Sierra Leone proudly in China," he stated.
Among the other winners were Tejan Bangura from FBC, who took the first prize, who slightly missed out on the grand prize, and Solomon Joshua, who happened to grab one of the second spots in the competition.
Awards were also presented for the primary school category, as Nabela M. Cater and Nathan Bakley-Sesay from the American Leadership Academy stood out among their compatriots.
Prior to the commencement of the competition, the Director of the Confucius Institute, University of Sierra Leone noted that "In my interpretation of what Chinese bridge means, the Chinese language is like a bridge, it could be a tremendous, endless Atlantic Ocean from one end of this globe-China in east Asia and the other end of Sierra Leone in West Africa." This is a huge international bridge being built by the people and the governments of China and Sierra Leone through the Chinese language.
The Director said the Confucius Institute is into its 10th year, with Chinese and local achievement in building such a bridge, and he thanked all those who have supported them in this milestone.
And according to the Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, Li Xiaoyong, Chinese is one of the most beautiful and distinct languages in the world. He said the beauty of the Chinese language lies in its form, structure, and rhyme.
He underscored that Chinese is filled with great courage and wisdom with every sound stroke, word, and sentence that tells its unique story. Only after learning Chinese will you know the deep connotation associated with each Chinese character.
And in his statement, the Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education shed light on the relationship between Sierra Leone and China. He urged the participants to prove their mettle as there would only be one winner.
Other speakers also made meaningful contributions, including Professor John Kargbo, who expressed his delight over such a competition.
He said there would only be one winner and the result should be accepted by all and sundry, as they are all there to get the ticket to represent their country.
The competition ended with the presentation of prizes to the winners.
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