Date: November 16th
Time: 6pm-9:50pm
Location: Roy Barnett Hall in UBC
On November 16th, the 2019 Chinese Bridge Mandarin Singing Contest was held at the Roy Barnett Hall in UBC. The event attracted students from UBC and nine other universities and colleges around the province to showcase students’ passion for Chinese learning through singing Chinese songs. Students across all levels of the UBC Chinese Program participated in the competition each showcasing their own unique talents. Many of the students have only learned Chinese for a short time but nonetheless took on the challenge to share their love for Chinese through songs. Let’s take a look at the winners from UBC!
First Place of category B: Anna Lee, Preston Lee, Michael Demski, and Alexandria Miller – Yellow (流星）
The first place winners, “the Yellow Bunnies,” are a group of close-knit friends who have only been learning Chinese for around three months. They performed the popular pop song “Yellow” (流星) originally sung by Coldplay by putting their own creative twist to the song. The performance never had a dull moment and always kept the audience on the edge of their seats with one surprise after another. There was even one portion where Michael broke into a lively solo dance. The team showcased a mixture of friendship, creativity, and talents while overcoming the language challenge, leaving every audience impressed.
Second Place of Category B: Grace Young(杨广恩), Jessica Christy(艾杰诗), Laura Lee(李惠邻), Sugyeong Son(孙受敬), Sylvie Yang(杨雅琳), Cindy Patton(裴新), Tina Hah(河文程) and Christopher Brown(贺满慧) – Fly Me to the Moons (带我飞向月亮)
The second place winners of category B are a group of CHIN 401 and 405 non-heritage students from a mix of different cultural backgrounds and age. One of the team members is even a professor from SFU! They became friends in Chinese classes and developed a common interest in Chinese pop songs. For their performance, they transformed the classic song “Fly Me to the Moon”, making it their own with uniquely coordinated dance moves.
Third place of category B: Tan-ta Siriporn Na Rajasima(杨东美), Kelly Park (朴度允), Sean Downey（邓尚）, Amanda Kennedy（柯巧爱）and Jason Callaghan（安智明) – 快乐颂
Truly the happiest group, the third place winner of category B, “Happy Group,” definitely brought their energy and enthusiasm to the stage with their performance of the song “Ode to Joy” (欢乐颂). With their cheerful attitude, self-made costumes, cool dance moves, the group surely put a smile on everyone’s face as the audience clapped along to the happy tune! Through the competition, they not only had a lot of fun but also developed a deeper passion for learning Chinese.
Second Place of category A: Kelly Jin (金凯莉) – Sun (太阳)
The second place winner of category A, Kelly Jin, is a 400 level heritage Chinese student. In her free time, she also teaches singing outside of school, so her talents are definitely not lacking! Her performance of the Chinese song “Sun” (太阳) showcased her extraordinary singing talent impressing everyone in the audience.
Winner of Highest Popularity Award: Miriam Celebiler(崔雨安) and Agustina Flores Pitton – Let it go (随他吧)
The duo group, “We’re Snow Joke,” not only received the support of their friends who cheered them on but also won the hearts of the audience with their performance of “Let it go.” They created their own dance routine to complement the song and even brought their own props to add some extra flare. Not only did the audience had a blast of fun, Miriam and Agustina definitely looked like they were enjoying the stage as well!
Aside from the participants’ performances, UBC Chinese Music Club and UBC Cloud T. Dance Club were also invited to showcase traditional Chinese ballad, “Jasmine,” and dance, “Tune: Like a Dream(如梦令).”
This marks an eventful night of cultural exchange and learning. It was a great opportunity for students to showcase their talents and their enthusiasm for the Chinese language and culture. It was also remarkable and inspirational for students to advance in their path for learning Chinese.
We commend the participants from all rounds of the competition. Whether they are winners or not, they have all put in significant work in perfecting their performances. They gave audiences an amazing show and should all be proud of what they have accomplished! They have all proven to everyone their passion for Chinese learning with their unique and diverse talents. Once again, thank you to the participants as well as all event organizers, judges, TAs, and volunteers for such a wonderful night! We hope to see you here again next year!
For videos of the winning performances, please visit
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkLX93ecEfUpiWjX7XnpoCjLS4LgIiGFI
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