Dear guests,

Dear teachers and students,

Ladies and gentlemen, friends，

Namaste！

It is a great pleasure to attend the India Final and Award Ceremony of 2025 "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for College and Secondary School Students. First of all, I would like to extend my warm congratulations on the successful holding of this competition! My heartfelt congratulations also go to all the award-winning students! Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teachers working tirelessly for Chinese language education and to all the friends from all walks of life supporting this important cause.

A little over a month ago, I had a wonderful meeting with more than 100 college and secondary school students studying Chinese at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. I was deeply impressed by their profound love for the Chinese language and culture. Today, I am delighted to see that this year's "Chinese Bridge" competition in India has attracted more outstanding students, demonstrating a higher level of Chinese language proficiency.

China and India are both great ancient civilizations. We have learned from and influenced each other through thousands of years of interaction, jointly advancing the progress of human civilization. China's papermaking, silk, porcelain, and tea traveled to India along the ancient Silk Road, while India's music, dance, astronomy, architecture, and spices spread to China. Buddhism, which originated in India, was introduced to China and spread to East and Southeast Asia. Our languages also share deep historical roots—for example, the Chinese word "刹那" (chànà), meaning "instant" is derived from the Sanskrit "kshan" while the Chinese word for "tea" (茶，chá) is pronounced "chay" in Hindi, showing striking similarity. All these fully demonstrate that China and India as two great civilizations have been closely connected and integrated throughout history.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. At present, China-India relations are at a critical stage, and the important consensus reached by the leaders of our two countries has charted the course for the development of bilateral relations. The "Chinese Bridge" competition is of great positive significance for enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the youth of the two countries. It helps to promote China-India cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and advance the development of China-India relations. We will soon organize a "Chinese Bridge" youth exchange delegation from India to visit Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shijiazhuang. Participants of the "Chinese Bridge" competition will have the opportunity to experience firsthand this ancient yet modern neighbor of India.

Dear students,

You are the future and hope of China-India friendship. I hope that you will take this competition as a new starting point to continue working hard to learn Chinese, unceasingly improving your language ability and cultural understanding. In the process of learning Chinese, you will not only master an important language tool but also open a window to understand China. And more meaningfully, it will add new valuable opportunities to your future life.

Finally, I would like to congratulate all the award-winning students again! May your lives be more fantastic from now on! May the cause of China-India friendship blossom and bear fruits as a mango tree!

Thanks.