Yuchi Zhang, a student of University International College, M.U.S.T., won the 2nd prize at the 27th China Daily “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition in October.
The China Daily “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition was launched by the China Daily in 1996. It is the highest academic and most rigorous English learning competition in China.
This year’s competition was launched in October 2021 and lasted for seven months. Because of the pandemic, the final of the competition has been postponed till October this year. The contestants came from all universities nation-wide. The competition is comprised of several stages: screening interviews on the Internet, campus-wide selections, speaking tests on the phone, and regional finals; out of approximately 100,000 contestants from around 1,000 higher institutions of the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, 75 regional winners (top three of each region) are selected to enter the national final. The Competition invites top-level experts from well-known international English teaching organizations, media organizations, foreign embassies in China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and renowned national and international universities, to serve as the judges for the competition. Over a million people watch the competition. The official website of the competition and many well-known mainland Chinese media organizations provide detailed coverage for the event.
The final round of this competition consists of three parts: prepared speech, impromptu speech, and the question and answer session. With his fluent English, elegant stage presence, agile mind and excellent critical thinking and organizational skills, Yuchi Zhang, won the 2nd prize. His tutor, Dr. Lei Kai Cheong, also won 2nd prize in the Best Tutor Award.
What is also gratifying is that this is the 15th consecutive year M.U.S.T. students qualified to enter the final of this national competition.
