A schoolboy from Vladivostok spoke about his victory at the World Chinese Language Olympiad (PHOTO) – Vladivostok News on VL.ru

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It turned out that it was easier for Vladivostok schoolboy Danil Pyshny to win the world competition in Chinese than at the All-Russian Olympics, from which he had already returned twice without a prize. The PRC authorities, as a reward, provided the winner with the opportunity to study for free at any Chinese university – and the eleventh grader will take advantage of this opportunity, and then return to work in the Primorsky Territory. Danil told the VL.ru News correspondent about his plans after the award ceremony, which took place on November 3 at the Confucius Institute in Vladivostok. The guy became the first resident of Primorye and the first Russian to win the World School Olympiad “China – Bridge”. Yesterday he was greeted at the airport with flowers and posters, and a large awards gala was planned for Friday, November 3. The hall where the ceremony is taking place is full of people. The winner’s parents, his younger brother, as well as classmates – they also came to congratulate Danil and brought him a stuffed panda as a gift. From the Confucius Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University, where he studied Chinese in recent years, the student received memorable gifts: a sweatshirt and a game in Chinese, a certificate of free education for a period of one year, as well as lion figurines. – symbol of the Oriental Institute. “For the first time, Russia took first place! Of course, we are proud of such successes and congratulate Danil. It is interesting that our university was founded in 1899 as the Oriental Institute and one day graduates of that time came to Harbin and helped their Chinese colleagues build an educational and administrative system. Our relationship remained unchanged, and then Heilongjiang University co-founded and assisted in the creation of the Confucius Institute in Vladivostok and helped at a certain stage to develop areas of training for sinologists. What we have is the result of the joint work of many generations of professional teachers and scientists, researchers from both sides – Russia and China. And now it is completely surprising and very pleasant for me that Vladivostok once again emphasizes: Chinese studies is one of our strengths,” commented Evgeniy Vlasov, Vice-Rector for International Relations of FEFU, Director of the FEFU Institute of Oriental Studies. Deputy Mayor Daria Stegny was present at the ceremony – she joined in the congratulations and invited the boy to a gala reception with Mayor Konstantin Shestakov on November 7. But the biggest gift was prepared by the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Vladivostok, Piao Yanfan – free education with a scholarship at any Chinese university for four years. “I would like to wish you continued success in your journey of learning Chinese language and culture. I think the fact that you took first place in this global competition is a kind of recognition of the methodology of the Confucius Institute. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The Chinese language is not just a bridge, the Chinese language is not even a sea. The Chinese language is an ocean. So, as befits sailors, residents of Vladivostok, let’s raise our sails high and set off to conquer and develop our ocean, so that this ocean will benefit and benefit from Chinese-Russian friendship,” said Piao, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China. China in Vladivostok congratulated Russian schoolboy Yanfan. Danil shared with the VL.ru News correspondent his emotions from participating in the competition and winning. According to him, it was not easy to fight with competitors from 130 countries. “There was a lot of stress. I believed that I could win, there were opportunities, but I still did not let myself relax and worked. Most likely, this is more of a moral burden. At such events, this is much more important than learning something. Even if you learn, but are not mentally prepared and feel stressed, this is already a loss. You must be able to control yourself. I plan to study in China, especially since there is such an opportunity. And in the future, I “I want to return to Vladivostok to work and serve for the benefit and prosperity of our native Primorsky Territory. Perhaps in the diplomatic sphere. I would like to thank everyone who supported me at this moment – teachers, friends, classmates and relatives,” he said. winner of the World Chinese Language Competition “Chinese is a Bridge”, 11th grade Danil Pyshny. According to his parents, no one put pressure on Danila’s choice, and the guy himself, first of all, wanted to immerse himself in the Chinese language. The impetus for the student was the success of his senior sisters in the Chinese language, who first passed HSK 6 (the highest level of international examination in Chinese), and then became a prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiad in Chinese. Danil himself is not doing well with the Olympics in Russia – for some reason it is more difficult to win there than at international competitions. “We participated in the Russian Olympic Games for several years, but failed to reach the finals, and this year we are making our third attempt. I can say that all over the world the competitions were held with more dignity, because only foreigners took part in them. And in Russia, citizens with a Chinese passport participate in the Olympiad: foreigners study in our schools. The prize places are mainly taken by the Chinese. Danil deserved this victory, first of all, himself, with his perseverance. We do not force any of the children to study, everything is there. We talk to them at home “Children, this is your future, we will support any of your endeavors, there is only one condition – if you give up, we will not pay anymore,” said the boy’s parents Svetlana and Alexey Pyshny. Another participant in the competition of the Confucius Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University Anzhelika Ilyashenko, who was among the top five Russian women. And the schoolgirl did not receive as much attention and congratulations as Danil, although she went through an equally difficult path. But this does not bother the girl. “It was very difficult to prepare. Three months later we were sent questions for the test. I taught them, but at the competition itself the questions turned out to be slightly different. There was a speech that same day: I think I told it perfectly. There was a regular test where we had to make a sentence and describe what happened in the picture, as well as give clues about the hieroglyphs. There was also a creative competition, and I immediately took the wrong key, and the process itself went wrong. The final result shocked me a little. People who don’t know Chinese scored higher than those who can speak. I was very upset that I did not make it into the top ten from Europe and ended up in 18th place out of 60 participants. As a result, the top thirty were recruited from different continents. The strongest entered. Except for Oceania, Australia, in my opinion, cannot speak Chinese. Initially, Danil was second among participants from Europe, and the first place was taken by a girl from Moscow. Danil beat her, and in the final he ended up with a girl from Japan and beat her, too, by a margin of one millisecond. I was happy for him, honestly. I have known this man for a long time and I know what he is capable of. He knows how to put pressure at the best moment,” noted Anzhelika Ilyashenko. Danil Pyshny’s victory at the competition was not only a joy for Primorye residents, but also an important symbol during the period of strengthening relations between Russia and China. FEFU plays a role in this; among its partners there are more than 60 public and private educational institutions, scientific institutes, government organizations and foundations of the People’s Republic of China. With the support of FEFU, 15 centers of Russian language and culture have been created in the Celestial Empire, where foreign students study. “You know, we have a tradition of working very closely in the field of education and enlightenment, and our leaders attach great importance to this aspect of our interaction. Linguists are building a bridge between two great civilizations. Our ministries have agreements to develop cooperation in the field of language learning, we have Chinese language centers here at universities. There are also Russian language centers in China. FEFU is now opening its branches for training in Guangzhou and Beijing. The process is intensive and especially important for border regions. I am very glad to see a lot of interest in the Chinese language and in China. More and more schoolchildren and students began to study Chinese. We will encourage this trend in every possible way,” Piao Yanfang emphasized in a conversation with a VL.ru News correspondent. It should be noted that the Chinese language competition “Chinese is a Bridge” for schoolchildren is held in more than 130 countries around the world and is designed to arouse students’ interest in learning the Chinese language and culture.