Feature: Cameroonian students shine at Confucius Institute's Chinese song competition

by Arison Tamfu, Wang Ze

YAOUNDE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Oozing with confidence and pride, Rodrigue Tene Taling watched attentively as Cameroonian students performed Chinese songs during a competition on Friday organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Yaounde II. About 13 years ago, he was a spectator and contestant in the show, but today he was one of the judges tasked with selecting winners of the annual competition, which is open to all Cameroonian students interested in singing Chinese songs.

Now in its 10th edition, the competition, dubbed Voice of Cameroon, is an important opportunity for Chinese people in Cameroon to come together with the local community, said Xue Xiaobin, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute.

"Music knows no borders," Xue said. "Now is the Chinese New Year, so it is a very important time for Chinese people to celebrate with our families, and here at the Confucius Institute, our partners, our colleagues, our students are just like our family members. So, we are very happy that we can celebrate this very important festival together with this music competition."

But for Taling, it was more than just a competition and a coming-together event.

"I owe my success to the Confucius Institute," said the 38-year-old father of two. In 2010, he enrolled in the institute to learn the Chinese language and culture. Years later, Taling graduated as one of the best students. Thanks to a scholarship offered by the Chinese government, he traveled to China where he studied and obtained a master's degree and then a PhD in Chinese language at the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.

"China has one of the most important things, that is, its language and culture. I usually compare it to the key to opening China's door. If you do not master them, you cannot really integrate into that society," said Taling, who is today the director of the Center for African Films and TV Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.

"Having studied the Chinese language for over two years here in this institute (in Cameroon) before leaving for China, I will acknowledge today that the key to my success there has been the Chinese language and culture I have been learning here," he added.

When Taling enrolled at the Confucius Institute, he met his friend, who asked to be identified simply as Sema, who was also actively involved in the organization of Friday's song competition. Sema was studying physics at a Cameroonian university, but his love for the Chinese language and culture brought him to the institute where he learned the basics of the language. He later traveled to China where he obtained a master's degree in Chinese language.

The 41-year-old said that the institute has laid the bridge between China and Cameroon, hence making it necessary and possible for Cameroonians to learn the Chinese language.

"I personally think the cooperation between Cameroon and China is benefiting Cameroonian people. So we should just work hand in hand with Chinese people to do more. I have greatly benefited from this cooperation, and I am still benefiting because now I am recruited by the Confucius Institute, teaching at the University of Buea (in Cameroon)," said Sema, who is currently carrying out a study on how to use Chinese characters to write Cameroonian languages.

"They have provided me with every tool, material and financial support that I needed to achieve that project. So with the Confucius Institute, everything is okay. It's just what it should be," he added.

The institute in Cameroon has made a great contribution to mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries, said Xue. Apart from the song competition, it also organizes the Chinese proficiency test. In each Chinese traditional festival, the institute holds different kinds of activities to introduce traditional culture to students and the local communities.

"At the moment at the Confucius Institute, half of our teachers are Chinese people, and the other half are Cameroonians. All of them were once our students, and many of our teachers have become local Chinese teachers at primary and secondary schools in Cameroon, and many of them work in Chinese enterprises," Xue said.

At the end of the competition, the duo of 20-year-old Francine Sephorah Dimaha and 22-year-old Grace Bile Akomo, both students of the Confucius Institute, were declared the overall winners. They expressed their eagerness to deepen their study of the Chinese language and culture, hoping that one day they would have the opportunity to travel to China.

"Chinese language today is the most important tool in our cooperation with China, and China today is a great country with a big influence on the world platform. I will personally recommend this institute for our young Cameroonians for China is part of the future community with shared destiny," Taling said.