The third Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition was successfully held in Tucson (picture)

The third Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition was successfully held in Tucson (picture) (Author: Chen Rongji) On the morning of November 20th, fifteen descendants of Chinese descent from Tucson attended...

(Author: Chen Rongji)

On the morning of November 20th, fifteen Chinese descendants from Tucson participated in the third Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition held worldwide by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council.

This competition has received strong support from Chinese Americans in Tucson. After the news was announced in July that the third Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition would be held, the two Chinese schools decided to organize students to participate and determined application for test sites and other related matters. Many parents of students sent emails or called to inquire about relevant information and book ordering. After the announcement of the competition in September was issued, there was great enthusiasm from all quarters. Zusun Chinese Cultural Center confirmed to provide the venue for the competition. Zusun Chinese School and Tucson Mandarin Chinese School actively encourage students to register for the competition. Several parents of students sent their children's registration forms as soon as they received the notice of the competition. Chinese students from University_High_Sc hool and Basis_Oro_Valley_Charter_School also actively signed up to participate in the competition after learning about the news. Some students felt that there was so much content in the three books that they could not remember it, and finally gave up the registration. However, they still showed great enthusiasm for the Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition. They read the three books "Common Sense of Chinese Culture", "Common Sense of Chinese History" and "Common Sense of Chinese Geography" and actively participated in the tutoring. They also expressed that they wanted to learn more about China and understand more about China's situation, and prepare to participate in the next competition.

Based on the requirements of Chinese children and parents, we decided to open tutoring classes. To this end, we have issued a call for tutoring volunteers. Immediately after the notice was sent out, several teachers responded and expressed their willingness to provide tutoring for the students. Finally, we invited Cao Peiqin, Lin Guangxin, Shang Huiming and Mr. Zhu, who is in his seventies, to tutor the students. From the end of September to mid-November, we held a total of seven tutoring sessions, providing tutoring to students in four aspects: Chinese culture, history, geographical knowledge, and current affairs in China in the past year or two. After every tutoring session, we can see that the students’ knowledge of Chinese culture is improving. These tutoring sessions allowed students to increase their understanding of Chinese cultural knowledge and enhance their confidence in participating in the competition.

The four teachers have done a lot of work and made careful preparations in order to give a good tutoring class. Cao Peiqin, Lin Guangxin, and Shang Huiming, the three general knowledge tutors, carefully read the three books "Common Knowledge of Chinese Culture", "Common Knowledge of Chinese History" and "Common Knowledge of Chinese Geography". All four teachers reviewed a large amount of information and devoted a lot of their time. Two teachers, Cao Peiqin and Lin Guangxin, prepared rich slide presentations for the students. Teacher Cao uses culture as a clue to lead students to understand China's nation, folk customs, customs, sentiments, national quintessence, and wonders, and experience the breadth, grandeur, classics, and depth of Chinese culture. Teacher Lin used history as a context to allow students to appreciate the development process of Chinese culture over thousands of years from ancient times to pre-Qin Dynasty, from the First Emperor to the Democratic Republic. Teacher Shang unfolded the map of China and let the students take a virtual tour of China. From Mount Everest, the top of the world, to the plains of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; from the towering Kunlun and the Gobi Desert to the Wuyi Mountains and the Pearl River coast, students learned about China's topography; from Lhasa and Urumqi to Beijing and Shanghai, from the ice city of Harbin to the end of the world and Hainan Island, students learned about the natural resources, climate characteristics, economic and cultural development of various parts of China. Mr. Zhu used his own personal experience to show the students China's rapid development and rapid improvement in international status in recent years. He also searched for a wealth of current affairs information from the Internet and drafted more than 30 exercises to help students understand the current affairs and politics of the past two years. Here we would like to express our deep respect to them!

There are many specific matters in organizing the competition, such as book sales, tutoring and competition venue arrangements, and preparation for debugging of electronic equipment. These matters have received the support and help of the Cultural Center Susan_Chan and the center staff. When invigilators were needed, Cao Peiqin, Zhang Yuan, Zou Jiyao, and Huang Zhiguo took the initiative to undertake the invigilation work. I would like to express my deep gratitude to them!

The Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council received positive responses from Chinese Americans in Tucson. The majority of Chinese believe this is a good way to spread and maintain Chinese culture. When they heard that this event would be held every two years, everyone thought it was a meritorious event that would be conducive to the preservation and inheritance of Chinese culture. Many parents of students expressed that they want their children to know more about China, care about China's development, and preserve and pass on China's cultural traditions. Here we would like to express our deep gratitude to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council for caring and supporting overseas Chinese education!

The National Association of Chinese Schools is the organizer of this competition in the United States. The competition work at the Tucson test center was under his leadership and received clear guidance. Our student Liu Zhiruo from Tucson achieved excellent results in the second Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition. In September this year, she passed the selection of the National Association of Chinese Schools and became one of the five representatives of the American delegation, representing Chinese students in the United States to participate in the Second Chinese Culture Knowledge Competition Finals held in Xi'an, China, at the end of October. This is the pride of Chinese students. It is also the support and recognition of our work from the National Association of Chinese Schools. Here we would like to congratulate Liu Zhiruo and express our gratitude to the National Association of Chinese Schools!

The success of this competition in Tucson would not have been possible without the support of students, parents and the majority of Chinese Americans. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone! We will redouble our efforts in Chinese education to repay everyone's love.

(Thanks to the Tucson Chinese Contact Newsletter for the contribution)