ILS 7th grader Alina Kushnir from section 7M1 was best in the "Stage Mastery" category, while section 7M3 student Milinda Airapetyan in the "Original Genre" category. The winners' teachers are Anna Belonogova, Marina Oleinik and Wang Yuzhe. "Chinese Language is a Bridge" is a serious competition for children 12 years of age and older and consists of two rounds: the first includes oral and written testing, while the second has three different stages. Those who make it past the first round are faced with a real challenge: in the first stage, contestants give a prepared presentation on a topic from Chinese history and culture, in the area of linguistics, country studies, literature, traditions and China's scientific achievements. In the second stage, they give spontaneous answers to questions posed by members of the judges panel, while the third stage is an artistic task.

"I congratulate Alina and Milinda and wish them new successes going forward," says ILS Principal Olga Shevchenko. "Alina was just 1.5 points away from being an overall prize winner, which is a great shame, of course, but a year from now, the Chinese language experts will gather again, and I am certain that this experience will help her to achieve even better results in the future."