competition

Bridging the gap

Freshman Warner Hartnett worked hard to rise above 146 contestants in the annual Chinese Bridge Competition.

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Culture

October 29, 2020 The binder sits on Chinese instructor Janet Lin’s desk. It’s thick — the spine is five inches, and the edges open even wider than that. In it are over a thousand sheets of paper, each covered with Chinese words or phrases. But the binder represents just one of the three challenges — Chinese language proficiency, Chinese cultural knowledge and a talent show with Chinese elements — freshman Warner Harnett has to face in the worldwide Chinese Bridge competition.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that competition has changed significantly.

“Before, we’d have the test, we’d have the speech, and the performance,” Harnett said. “Everything would be in-person and on a stage in front of the judges. And then along with the judges there’d be the audience, but obviously we can’t do that right now. Instead, we’re using the Chinese Bridge club app to submit everything. It’s all online.”

That will prove especially difficult in the final part of the competition, where contestants are expected to travel virtually across China, putting their Chinese to practice by interacting with middle and high-school students. Even Lin, who’s had experience guiding previous students through the process, is encountering new challenges.

“The coordination between our school and the China-based committee and judges is a lot of work,” Lin said. “With the difference in time zones, I will usually receive over a dozen emails overnight, and then I’ll have to communicate those to Warner in the morning.”

Hartnett is confident that he’ll be able to stay on top of things and give it his all.

“I pretty much know what’s what’s going on at the competition since I’ve been doing this for a couple years,” Hartnett said. “Because COVID messed up a lot of stuff, they only gave us about two weeks to prepare for this competition, which was not great.”

There’s a lot of work ahead. The 100 contestants have been narrowed to 30, with Hartnett being in that select group. Next, it will be narrowed to 15. After that there’s a semi-final and final round. To be in the top 15, Harnett has had to make a lot of progress.

“I have submitted the performance, which for me is Chinese drumming, and the speech already, and I’ve just finished the test,” Hartnett said. “Now, all that’s left is an actual performance on Zoom where I perform a speech.”

For Harnett, the competition is just one more step in a passion for Chinese that he developed in Middle School.

“It all began when I started taking Chinese,” Hartnett said. “My first Chinese lesson was in fifth grade with Chiang Laoshi, and I was pretty interested by it. I wanted to be that one kid who could speak perfect Chinese, so my middle school Chinese teacher told me about the competition.”

Hartnett’s first time wasn’t easy.

“For my first competition, I was incredibly nervous going on stage,” Hartnett said. “I did Tai Chi, and I added dubstep music to it. But it turned out to definitely be a fun experience and I ended up getting third place.”

Lin feels that this experience demonstrates some of the qualities that have helped Harnett become a successful student and competitor.

“He’s very positive and determined to do everything he can to win,” Lin said. “And he’s passionate about the Chinese language and culture. He’s visited China before and fell in love with the country.”

Still, Harnett couldn’t help feeling out of place.

“It’s mainly a college and high school competition,” Harnett said. “I was the only middle schooler in the competition at the time, so that

was a lot of pressure.”

Hartnett credits his progression and growing confidence in the language and the competition to his teachers.

“Lin Laoshi as well as Chiang Laoshi helped me with everything,” Hartnett said. “They guided me through the competition in the first place.”

And being a competitor didn’t stop Hartnett from meeting new people.

“There were some pretty interesting people there,” Hartnett said. “I made a lot of new friends. This competition has a lot of traveling around, and you get to meet a lot of new people, so that’s pretty cool.”

For Lin, those interactions

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Competing

Harnett performed a Tai Chi dance to dubstep music as his first perfomance. He has since moved on to playing the drums in his competitions.

represent one of the most important aspects of the program.

“This is a way for students to enjoy language beyond the classroom,” Lin said. “And Warner will make friends from different countries and hopefully they’ll still connect after the contest is over.”

But the most important lessons Warner has learned aren’t about Chinese at all.

“Do your best,” Hartnett said. “Don’t get intimidated. Don’t be afraid and prepare. Work hard, and then you’ll do well. I’m sure I’ll take something new away from this next competition too.”

STORY Alam Aladina, Ian Dalrymple PHOTOS Courtesy Janet Lin

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