On July 4, 2025, the award ceremony of the 4th Chinese Essay Competition for International Students of Dalian University of Technology was grandly held in Classroom 104 of the Graduate Teaching Building. Prof. Duan Yuping, Dean of the School of International Education, together with teachers from the Chinese Language Training Center, attended the ceremony and presented certificates and prizes to the outstanding international students who stood out in this competition.

Open to all international students of the university, the competition received enthusiastic submissions since the announcement was released in April 2025. After the preliminary evaluation, 34 works from students of 16 countries entered the final evaluation stage. Finally, the expert review panel selected winners in the beginner, intermediate and advanced groups based on such criteria as language expression, content theme, structural logic and cultural understanding.

In the beginner group, JEMAL KOMEKOVA from Turkmenistan won the first prize with Memories of Happiness. By describing a warm experience of spending the Mid-Autumn Festival with Chinese friends in China, the work exquisitely shows the author's profound perception of happiness and reunion.

The first prize of the intermediate group was awarded to NILAR LWIN, a student from Myanmar. His work Two Leaves Drifting to China tells the story of the author and his sister growing up while studying in northern and southern China, and depicts the profound experience of family affection and cultural identity in foreign life with sincere and delicate emotions.

The first prize work of the advanced group is Stargazing: An Astronomical Journey Spanning Ancient and Modern Times by SARUULSAIKHAN TUVSHINBAATAR from Mongolia. Starting from the classroom learning of A History of Chinese Science and Technology, the work combines the development of ancient Chinese astronomy with modern scientific achievements, showing the author's understanding of the thought of "harmony between man and nature" and sincere respect for the wisdom of Chinese science and technology.

(Group photo of first prize winners)

In addition, in the beginner group, TANAPORN THIPPAYOT(Thailand) and PITNICHA KITCHARUNGSUN (Thailand); in the intermediate group, HAI VAN HOANG(Vietnam) and PALINA KUZMIANOK(Belarus); and in the advanced group, NGOC HAN LE(Vietnam) and WIKTORIA KATARZYNA KOWALCZYK(Poland) won the second prizes of their respective groups.

In the beginner group, GERY SANTOSO UTAMA(Indonesia), PIMNAPAS CHANTHAROCHANI (Thailand) and BEDIRHAN ZIYANAK (Turkey); in the intermediate group, MARGARITA ALESHKO (Belarus), THU THAO LY (Vietnam) and THI MY HANG PHAM (Vietnam); and in the advanced group, MARIIA RYBAKOVA (Russia), IKEDA SHUN (Japan) and ANASTASIIA SUKHORUKOVA (Ukraine) won the third prizes of their respective groups. The remaining contestants won excellence awards.

(Group photo of second prize winners)

(Group photo of third prize winners)

(Group photo of excellence award winners)

Since its establishment, the Chinese Essay Competition for International Students of Dalian University of Technology has always adhered to the concept of "promoting teaching through writing and promoting learning through competition", encouraging international students to express their real experiences in China in Chinese and record their in-depth interaction with Chinese culture and society. The competition not only provides a platform for students to display their language ability and cross-cultural understanding, but also an important practical carrier for our university to promote curriculum-based ideological and political education and integrate cultural experience with language learning.

After four sessions of accumulation, the competition has attracted students from dozens of countries across five continents to participate. A number of excellent works with both linguistic appeal and cultural depth have emerged, and some of the articles have been recommended for publication, becoming typical achievements in promoting the quality of international Chinese teaching in our university. In the future, the Chinese Language Training Center will further rely on this competition platform, continuously optimize the international Chinese curriculum teaching system, strengthen the two-way training mechanism of language ability and cultural identity, help improve the quality of education for international students in China in our university, and play a more active role in the promotion of international Chinese education and the dissemination of Chinese culture.