Nine finalists compete in national English-speaking competition

Nine contestants ranging in age from young children to teenagers exhibited their fluent English-speaking capabilities at the national final of this year's EF Challenge held by EF Education First through a live broadcast on Saturday.

Contestants were asked to talk about traditional Chinese culture, including food, architecture, intangible cultural heritage and festivals, and took advantage of this stage to share Chinese stories with the world.

The children selected themes that included Peking opera, traditional Chinese performing arts, Chinese musical instruments, and longtang - old style Shanghai alleys - among others in their presentations. A boy from Nanning in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and two girls from Shanghai and Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, won first prize in their respective age groups for kindergarteners, elementary school pupils and junior middle school students.

This is the sixth year that EF has held the national competition. More than 1 million video clips of children speaking English on various themes were submitted to an online platform as the first round of competition kicked off nationwide in January.

"English learning today is not only about getting a better score in tests or understanding the West. Instead, it is more about empowering children with a global vision and core qualifications, including communication, problem solving and tackling challenging skills, for talent in the new age," said Adele Bai, president of Kids & Teens at EF China.

"A good mastery of the international language will indeed assist them in participating in collaboration and competition on the world stage confidently and voicing their own thoughts and culture effectively," she said.