China-Japan-South Korea speech contest enhances exchanges

The final round of the third "Zhuhuan Cup" China-Japan-South Korea Youth Speech Contest was held in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, on March 24.

A contestant gives a speech during the final round of the third China-Japan-South Korea Youth Speech Contest. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

The contest featured two major awards: "Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean Language Experts" and "Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean Trilingual Challengers". The former required participants to deliver their speeches entirely in a non-native language, while the latter demanded participants to intersperse their speeches in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

During the contest, 18 contestants from China, Japan, and South Korea shared their cross-cultural experiences and insights. They expressed their aspirations and determination to enhance mutual understanding, trust, and cooperation among the three countries.

The China-Japan-South Korea Youth Speech Contest was initiated by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in 2022, aiming to promote friendship, mutual understanding, and awareness among the people of these three countries, especially the youth. It was also created to discover young talents and contemporary stories of friendly exchanges.

The contest is held annually in rotation among the three countries. The final round of the inaugural contest was held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2022, while the final round of the second contest took place in Tokyo, Japan, in 2023.