June 10th, 2012 - Germany Final of the Fifth "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students themed by "My Chinese Dream" drew to a successful end at the Confucius Institute at the Free University of Berlin in the evening. Thirteen players standing out from preliminary contest organized by Confucius Institutes in Germany joined the Competition. And Chinese Directors and mentors of Confucius Institutes and Classrooms in Leipzig, Duisburg, Freiburg, Hamburg, Erfurt and Munich observed the Competition. Xiu Chunmin at the Education Office of Chinese Embassy in Germany attended and addressed the Competition on behalf of the organizer and served on the judge panel.

The Competition includes three parts: Chinese speech, knowledge Q&A and talent show. The event was featured by tense and enthusiastic atmosphere. Excellent performance of contestants received rounds of applauses from the audience. They told in Chinese their unforgettable experience as exchange students in China, introduced Chinese delicacies, Chinese cities and experience in learning Chinese and showcased the enthusiasm of German middle school students for learning Chinese.

At the talent show process, contestants brought out their best and sang pop Chinese songs such as "The Moon Represents My Heart", theme song of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games "You and Me", grand National Anthem, played Chinese folk music "The Jasmine", recited Tang poems, affectionately recited "Farewell to Cambridge Again" in background music, and skillfully practiced Wing Chun and art of fencing. A 16-year-old girl A'Na from the Confucius Classroom at Thuringen Saltzman Middle School participated in the Competition for the second time. She played and sang self-made Chinese song and looked forward to her Chinese Dream.

After a rat race, a student called Weidemann selected by the Confucius Institute at the University of Leipzig and a student named Boveland selected by the Confucius Institute at the University of Hamburg won the first prize and they will set up the Germany Team to attend the Grand Final in Yunnan. A'Na was granted with the opportunity to observe the Final in China. Sarah from the Confucius Institute at the Free University of Berlin and Lukas from the Confucius Institute at the University of Duesseldorf won the third prize, eligible for applying for the Confucius Institute Scholarship to study in China.

The Competition was hosted by the Education Office of Chinese Embassy in Germany and sponsored by the Confucius Institute at the Free University of Berlin. It's the fifth Competition undertaken by the CI. Twelve Confucius Institutes and the Confucius Institute Munich across Germany were responsible for preliminaries in respective states of Germany.