Young contestants shine at international event(2)

The other contestant from the Chinese mainland, Wu Dongxu, is an 18-year-old from Hangzhou Foreign Languages School who won the 20th China Daily 21st Century Cup (senior high group).

He talked about his hometown, Hangzhou, in East China's Zhejiang province, during the impromptu speech heats and enthusiastically welcomed the audience to visit the city.

"I think this is a very precious opportunity for me to come here and to say something about China, and to introduce China to the outside world," Wu said.

The contestants won plaudits from judges and fellow competitors during the contest.

Jane Easton, director-general of the ESU, praised their energy and ideas, while Elene Gureshidze, a 20-year-old contestant, also praised their performance.

"My performance, I would say, was pretty good, and I listened to my Chinese counterparts and they were absolutely amazing," Gureshidze said.

Anthony Harris, chairman of the judges for the impromptu speech section, said: "We've, said: "We've got to remember that, by the time they get here, all of the students have won a competition back in their own country, and in China, I'm sure there must have been thousands of entrants to those competitions.

"So, for them to have won through to come to London, there's no great surprise that they're going to be really excellent. That's what makes it so difficult for us as judges, to know you're dealing with the best of the best."

Renard agreed, saying: "The training of the Chinese students is particularly good, because, so far, there has been three winners of the competitions through the years (Liu Xin in 1996, Xia Peng in 2005, and Yang Kangqi in 2022), and the members of the jury agree to say that their English was perfect, the training was perfect."

Renard said the competition not only offers some excellent public speaking but is also like a festival of nationalities and cultures.

"What is very important about this competition is the tolerance, the mutual understanding that prevails beyond the competition," Renard said.

Easton added: "It's a wonderful opportunity for them … to meet young people from other parts of the world and to make friendships, critically, friendships that will last a lifetime."

Liu agreed that the competition is much more than simply presenting speeches.

"This is a very memorable journey," he said. "I've never thought that cultural communication can be this complicated, complex and rewarding."