Daria Oganesova, a third-year student in the History of China programme, won the national stage of the contest. Additionally, Kristina Bulatnikova, a second-year student in the Chinese Philology programme, won the prize for her public speaking skills.

The students representing the Northwestern region at the Russian stage of the contest were shortlisted based on the results of a qualifying round, which took place at St Petersburg University on 19 April.

Overall, the team from St Petersburg came in a good second in the team standings.

‘The scale of the contest was surprising, the organisers definitely did their best,’ said Daria Oganesova. ‘It was amazing to watch the performances of the teams. I was also very pleased with the level of the contestants. The competition was really exciting and the tasks were quite sophisticated.’

‘In the first stage, during the team performance, we showed the best result,’ said Kristina Bulatnikova. ‘It’s not even just that we put a lot of effort and rehearsed hard, but that we put a piece of our soul into it. Our polylogue was about students from different countries coming to China and getting to know it in all sorts of ways: food, Peking opera, and Tai Chi chuan.’

Among the participants in the student contest there were 21 students from Irkutsk, Moscow, Volgograd, St Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Blagoveshchensk, Tynda, Ussuriysk, Vladivostok, and Yakutsk. As part of the contest, the participants competed in their knowledge of the Chinese language, the history and culture of China. They also demonstrated their creative abilities, such as choreography, signing or other specialities related to Chinese art.

For example, Daria Oganesova performed a song in front of the judges of the contest. It was the song "Red Actor" − Chi Ling (赤伶), the refrain of which is sung in the technique of Peking opera. At present, this is a very popular trend in Chinese music: a mix of modern song and traditional opera singing.

For reference: the winners of this stage will represent the Russian Federation in the global contest and will also have an opportunity to continue their studies in China.