1. Students from Our Confucius Institute win the first two place in the Seventh 'the
Linguist-2013' Foreign Language Competition in Russia

Recently, the Seventh 'the Linguist-2013' Foreign Language Competition in Russian held in the Youth Center of Republic of Tatarstan. More than 150 undergraduates and postgraduates in 27 colleges and universities from the whole country attended this competition. Our Confucius Institute student Julia Supra won the single champion in Chinese, together with Razmia Fitzdalowa won the second place in professional team.
As a traditional competition only held in the colleges and universities in theRepublic of Tatarstan , the competition contains European language alone. This year, because of the participation of the Organization Committee of 2013 Kazan Universiade and the College Students' Association of Republic of Tatarstan, this competition has been spread all over the whole country of Russia. Under the effort of the principles from our Confucius Institute, Chinese has been added as a item in professional competition.
In the competition, it has two types: X+English (professional team) and English+X (nonprofessional team). All the competitors must master two kinds of foreign language, English is thecompulsory language.
The winner can acquire the qualification as a volunteer of Universiade 2013 in Kazan.

2. Winners of Confucius Institute Scholarship Took a Cultural Fieldtrip in Zhang Jiajie

During April 4th to 28th, under the support of NOCFL, Office of International Exchange and Cooperation organized the winners of Confucius Institute Scholarship to have a cultural trip to Zhang Jiajie, a notable tourist attraction in China.

More than 30 overseas students from 5 five countries including Russia, Korea, Vietnam and so forth visited Tianzi Mountain, Baofeng Lake, Yellow Dragon Cave, etc. They are deeply appealed to the charisma of this world cultural heritage. The magnificent views left an unforgettable impression upon the overseas students.

Through the explanation of leading teachers and tour guide, the overseas students had a profound understanding of the folk custom and history of minorities in western Hunan. They said they had benefited a lot from this experience. Honmaketu from Japan said that the Yellow Dragon Cave attracted him the most. It was the first time she had seen such a huge karst cave and she really marveled at the grandeur of the great nature.

Translated by Zhang Xi / Edited by Peng Peigen

3. Chinese Cultural Camp Initiated

On July 1st, Confucius Institute of Russian Kazan (Volga) Federal University initiated its Chinese Cultural Camp themed on "China¡¤Hunan Exploration" in the school Office Building. The Camp is co-hosted by Hanban(Confucius Institute Headquarters) and Hunan Normal University. Zhou Junwu, vice president of HNU, gave a remark in the initiation ceremony. Also present at the ceremony were: Li Lanyi, Dean of Confucius Institute of Kazan (Volga) Federal University), Urazmetova Azaliya and Smagina Innesa, teachers of Kazan NO.18 High School, and staff from HNU Foreign Studies College and International College of Chinese Language and Culture. The ceremony was hosted by Tang Jianwen, Director of the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation.

Zhou Junwu expressed his warm welcome to the students attending this year's camp. He noted that, since establishing partnership in 1990, the two schools have based the partnership on the principle of friendship and cooperation and have thus achieved remarkable achievements in teacher/student exchanges as well as cooperative scientific researches. He hoped that, in the following 14days, the students will focus on studying the deep and broad Chinese culture and become future ambassadors of China-Russia friendship and future introducers of Hunan culture in Russia.

Li Lanyi, on behalf of Confucius Institute of Russian Kazan (Volga) Federal University, expressed her hearty appreciation for the efforts HNU has put into organizing this camp. She noted that it was the first time for many of the Russian students to come to China, she hoped the students could experience the unique charm of Chinese culture and promote China-Russia cultural exchange in the future.
Other speakers in the ceremony include teacher and student representatives, who expressed their high expectations on the coming summer camp and their hope that the activity be a great success.
Finally, Zhou Junwu gave the summer-camp souvenirs to the students.