Nigerian Student Wins Global Chinese Proficiency Prize

Faith Emmanuel, a student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), won the Global Third Prize at the 25th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. Emmanuel, known by her Chinese name Lu Xingyao, was a participant of the Confucius Institute at UNIZIK and competed against 157 contestants from 138 countries.

The Chinese Embassy in Nigeria praised her as an “outstanding Nigerian youth.” Notably, Emmanuel began learning Chinese from scratch in March 2025 and, despite having less than one-and-a-half years of experience, advanced to the Global Top 30 before securing the third prize. Since 2018, she became the 12th contestant from the UNIZIK Confucius Institute to reach this level.

Her achievement reflects her passion, hard work, and confidence, as noted by Qin Fangfang of the Confucius Institute. The competition aims to showcase Chinese language proficiency and cultural knowledge among students outside China.