On April 18-19, MUST Mandarin debating team went to Hong Kong for two-day debating exchange activities and contended with teams from the University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University and the City University of Hong Kong in three rounds of friendly debate competition. MUST sent thirteen members to join the activities with one trainer accompanying.
On the afternoon of April 18, MUST team arrived at the City University of Hong Kong where they watched the Hong Kong Interuniversity Mandarin Debate Competition, the competition, includes teams from the nine local universities participating, held every year to facilitate communication among undergraduates as well as to enhance ties between the Universities. MUST trainer Yang Xiaoyang was invited as one of the judges. By watching the contest, MUST players had learnt Hong Kong debating format and appreciated the wonderful presence and sophisticated debating skills of Universities’ debating teams in Hong Kong. Thereafter, MUST team headed for the University of Hong Kong where a friendly debate contest begun after a brief welcome ceremony. The motion was “Permanent class will make the society more stable/unstable.” The competition was in Asian Parliamentary type, and debaters of both sides contesied fiercely. After the debate, team leaders of both sides exchanged gifts and all debaters posed for photos in the classroom.
MUST Mandarin and HKU Mandarin debating team members posed for photos together.
On the morning of April 19, MUST team went to Lingnan University where after acarefullyplanned welcome ceremony and ice-breakinggames, the friendly debate contests begun. The motion was “Pursuingsexual freedom is/isn’tguilty of heterodoxy.” Bothe sides strongly fought for their own points in the war of words. After the match, senior debaters of two teams made comments on the contest. Afterwards, another motion “Love needs/doesn't need reason” was so interesting that raised burstsoflaughter now and then. After having lunch together, all members took pictures at the main entrance of Lingnan University.
MUST Mandarin team and Lingnan University Chinese debating team posed for photos together.
After exchange with Lingnan University, MUST team came to the City University of Hong Kong where they compared the City University of Hong Kong Chinese debating team with the motion “social media are mainly opportunities/challenges to public relations in crisis". One side thought that social media provided a more flexible approach to handling public relations in crisis, while the other side agreed that the advent of social media made it more difficult to guide public opinions leading to the debate becoming increasingly fierce. After the competition, members took pictures at the square of the City University of Hong Kong.
MUST Mandarin team and the CUHK Chinese debating team of posed for photos together.
Hong Kong debate exchange activity has been one of activities of MUST Mandarin team in recent years, exchanging experiences can help improve the whole team, especially the younger generation’s debating skills and debate quality, consolidate the traditional friendship between Macau and Hong Kong, and enhance the understanding and interaction between the debating teams of these two regions. Sincerely wish the friendship between MUST and Hong Kong universities debating teams long lasting and making greater progress!