One of the winners in the National Mandarin Speaking Competition, announced during the online Winner Announcement Ceremony

The Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia held two national competitions for Indonesians studying Mandarin. The first was the National Mandarin Speaking Competition and the second was a poster design competition. Both were held virtually because of the pandemic situation, but they still attracted an enthusiastic response.

194 high school and university students took part in the speaking competition organized by the Taiwan Education Center located at Universitas Negeri Jakarta, and the Taiwan Studies center at BINUS University (Universitas Bina Nusantara), with support from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan. A distinctive feature of this competition is that the participants were encouraged to make a video of themselves giving a speech in Mandarin and then add subtitles written in traditional Chinese characters. More students in Indonesia learn the simplified forms of Chinese characters rather than the traditional forms which are still used in Taiwan. But some of the participants saw this as a special challenge, and as a form of preparation for applying to universities in Taiwan. 

The poster design competition was organized by the Taiwan Education Center located at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta and 72 students took part. They were asked to use their creative ideas and communication ability, and combine traditional design and art skills with digital skills, to deliver a strong message on the theme “Study in Taiwan”. The challenge was to create posters that would excite Indonesian students and encourage them to find out more about Taiwan, and consider going there to study.

The 23 winners from both competitions were announced in a Winner Award Ceremony, held virtually on July 23, 2021. Grace Ou, the Director of the Education Division at TETO, said in her opening remarks that both competitions had had an enthusiastic response and many outstanding entries. She hoped that the participants had learnt more about Taiwan’s culture and the study opportunities available there, in conjunction with the government’s New Southbound Policy.