On the evening of August 29th, the final of the 2ndAll Nippon Teenagers Chinese Karaoke Competition opened at the 129 Auditorium of Tongji University, and many familiar Chinese pop songs were sung, such as: “Go Home”, “Ju Hua Tai”, “May You Be Safe” and “Wishing We Last Forever”. 25 Teenagers from Japan participated, and finally six of them, after the two-round and three-hour-long competition, won the first, second and third prizes respectively. This competition is an appointed activity of 2008, the Sino-Japan Youngsters Friendship Intercourse Year.
This competition was hosted by China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), that is, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (CIH), Confucius Institute at Obirin University in Japan, and Tongji University, undertaken by School of International Cultural Exchange of Tongji University. Those who were present and delivered speeches on the opening ceremony included Xu Lin, director of NOCFL and director-general of CIH, Li Dongxiang, former minister and education-counselor of the Embassy of PRC in Japan, Wang Xiaoshu, vice-chairman of the Shanghai Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Ishii Tetsuya, vice-consul-general of Consulate General of Japan in Shanghai, Zhou Jialun, secretary of Tongji CPC committee, Mitsuta Akimasa, dean of Confucius Institute at Obirin University in Japan. Prizes were presented by Ma Jinming, deputy secretary of Tongji CPC committee, Dong Qi, assistant president of Tongji University.
The preliminary competition of the 2ndAll Nippon Teenagers Chinese Karaoke Competition was held at Obirin University in Japan not long ago, and there are 74 contestants including senior high school students, undergraduates, and society people. 25 contestants of 20 groups from 11 areas won in the preliminary competition and got into the finals. Among them, the eldest was 34 and the youngest 17.
During their stay in Shanghai, these teenagers participated in the exchange meeting for Chinese and Japanese students, visited Huangpu River and knew more about Chinese culture.
