A University of Johannesburg student has won first place in the South African Preliminary Competition of the acclaimed Chinese language proficiency contest the Chinese Bridge.

Noxolo Ndara, who is studying Politics and International Relations, was announced as the winner of the Grand Prize at the SA Chinese Bridge Competition held in Stellenbosch University on Saturday, 3 June 2017.

Her language performance, which impressed the judges and members of the Chinese Embassy, included a written test and speech in Mandarin Chinese as well as a taiji quan performance.

She also gave a presentation entitled, “Dreams brighten the future” which talks about how she understands the concept of dreams and what her dreams for the future are.

Noxolo – whose Chinese name is Yănà(雅娜)- will now represent South Africa at the competition’s international final in China.

The Chinese Bridge competition began 16 years ago and has become the world’s most prestigious Chinese language proficiency competition for foreign university students.

Noxolo said: “All the contestants taking part were very talented, so it was an honour to win the competition. I would like to thank my family and friends who helped me through it with their support and encouragement. I would also like to thank the Confucius Institute teachers for their support and guidance. I could not have done any of this without all of you, so thank you.”

She added: “I enjoyed the competition as I was able to meet many new different people and learn so much by being completely out of my comfort zone. I was extremely nervous but the experience was great”.