The Global Finals and Award Ceremony of the 25th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students were recently held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. A total of 157 contestants from 138 countries competed on the global stage.

Faith Emmanuel Mba, whose Chinese name is Lu Xingyao（陆星瑶）, represented Nigeria and won the Global Third Prize. Her instructor, Ms Qin Fangfang, received the “Outstanding Instructor Award”.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the “Chinese Bridge” programme. The competition has reached more than 160 countries and regions and attracted over 1.8 million young participants worldwide, which has earned it a reputation as the “Olympics” of the Chinese language.

After standing out in the national (Nigeria) round, Faith advanced to the African stage before representing the continent at the Global Finals. Competing alongside outstanding Chinese-language learners from five continents, she impressed the judges with her strong language skills and overall performance, ultimately securing the Global Third Prize.

Remarkably, Faith, who recently finished her bachelor’s in Unizik’s department of History and International Studies, began learning Chinese from scratch at the UNIZIK Confucius Institute in March 2025. After only one year and five months of study, she advanced to the Global Finals, making her the contestant with the shortest Chinese-learning experience in this year’s competition. Her rapid progress is particularly impressive given the sustained effort and long-term learning generally required to master the language.

Faith’s achievement highlights both the potential of young Chinese-language learners and the effectiveness of the UNIZIK Confucius Institute’s approach to language education. Behind her success lies a comprehensive training system combining classroom instruction, dedicated teacher guidance, cultural immersion and practical experience.

Faith is the third university-category contestant from the UNIZIK Confucius Institute to win a Global Third Prize. Since 2018, students from the Institute’s university and secondary-school categories have combinedly earned 12 major honours in the “Chinese Bridge” competitions, including three African championships, four Global First Prizes and five Global Third Prizes.

Mis Qin Fangfang, Teacher of Chinese to Speakers of Other Language (TCSOL), Confucius Institute at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria