On November 18th, 2017, the 12th Japanese Essay Speech Contest was held at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, where the Hiroshima University Beijing Research Center is located. We have gotten special support from China Radio International (CRI) Northeast Asia and Central Asia Regional Broadcast Center, the same as last year.

This contest held by the Beijing Research Center was the 12th so far. This year’s theme was “After 45 years of restoration of diplomatic ties between Japan and China: The Japan-China relations I hope for/ Thinking about the future of Japan-China relations”. After recruiting essays throughout universities all around China, there were applications from 500 students from 28 schools. Universities recommended over 100 essays out of those applications.

From these applicants, ten students who passed the first round went on to the second round to have oral selections. Five students were selected after internet voting selection, and they performed their speech at the Capital Normal University’s lecture hall. At the venue, there were about 120 people in the audience including students learning Japanese and Japanese teachers.

Dr. Toshiyuki Sato, Executive and Vice President, and Mr. Masao Yokoi, Councilor of the Embassy of Japan in China, gave a welcome speech before the contest. Additionally, we had greetings from President and Representative Director Shigehiro Komaru of Fukuyama Transporting Co.; the special sponsor.

Afterward, Mr. Liu Deyou gave a special lecture entitled “The diplomacy of Prime Minister Zhou”. Then the five students that won awards gave their fluent Japanese speech. Finally, after severe reviewing, Ms. Gu Shi Jia from Sun Yat-sen University was chosen as first place. Also, Mr. Wang Dai Wang from Renmin University of China won an internship at the CRI as the “CRI Special Prize”.

At the end of the contest, Ms. Wang Xiao Yan of the China Radio International gave a review as an announcer. The audience intently listened until the very end.