hree international students from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) won the prize “Future China Hand” in the fourth SFLEP Cup National College Students’ Intercultural Competence Contest for their mastery of Chinese language and culture, this being the first time for SISU to organize a cross-school team to join the contest.

The competing team from SISU is one of the only two teams composed of international students advancing to this year’s national final among 30 competing teams in total. The team’s three members are postgraduates from different countries and from SISU’s different schools, with Ashimova Nurumkan from Kazakhstan, Mamazairova Nursina from Kyrgyzstan, and Ishola Labake Sikirat from Nigeria. They are all selected from SISU’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs and Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation (GIIT).

The SISU’s competitors discussed cultural differences between China and France in social manners and attitudes towards love and marriage by sharing an actual case, which was appreciated by the judges. The case is about a “romantic” misunderstanding that occurs between a Chinese woman and a French man. The woman in this case agreed to be the man’s “friend”, but was not the “girlfriend” as he tended to perceive in French culture.

Some SISU scholars were also invited by School of China Studies and Exchange (SCSE) to perfect the team’s performance. The scholars include associate professor Huang Jianqin, who had won the best tutor prize in the last contest, lecturer Zhang Xiuwen and Zhang Xinyu. Under their guidance, the competitors learnt to add twists and turns into the case presentation, which helped them ranked first in the competing session for international students in the semi-final. SCSE also asked Sheng Zhoujia, a postgraduate from SISU’s School of English Studies, to help the competitors to analyze the case they presented by integrating intercultural theories.

The competitors also shared their experience towards such an intercultural competition. They all said that the most important thing is to respect cultural differences and communicate sincerely. As the GIIT postgraduate Ishola Labake Sikirat, who has been in China for about three years, said, “We must overcome stereotypes and keep an open mind to other cultures.”

Jiang Feng, SISU University Council Chair, congratulated the winners and highlighted the importance of intercultural competence. Jiang said, “Intercultural competence is not just a tool of communication, but is closely related to everyone’s life.” He also pointed out that promoting intercultural communication is the requirement of the times. “It’s not only about telling China’s stories well, but also about gaining a true image of the world,” he said.

The contest is guided by China Education Association for International Exchange and jointly held by SISU and Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. It started from six years ago and the topic for this year is “strengthening cultural confidence, promoting international understanding.”