The Business China Youth Showdown 2019, was held at NTU @ One North on 24 July 2019 with the attendance of approximately 160 students and teachers. Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development graced the event as the Guest-of-Honour.
This year’s Youth Showdown, themed “Shaping Our Future: Painting the Vision of Global Sustainable Development”, received the highest number of registrations – 19 teams from 10 institutions across Singapore. A total of 5 teams – Eunoia Junior College (Team 1), Hwa Chong Institution (Team 1), Hwa Chong Institution (Team 2), River Valley High School (Team 2) and Singapore University of Social Sciences – qualified for the Final round.
In the opening remarks, Mr Tan emphasised the importance of mastering Chinese to enhance young Singaporeans’ understanding of China. He said,”I hope that this award will encourage everyone to learn Chinese and appreciate the profoundness of the language.”
Business China CEO, Ms Tin Pei Ling, said, “In preserving and capitalising on Singapore’s unique multicultural heritage while capturing the opportunities brought about by a fast-developing China, being Singapore-China savvy is a crucial quality for our youths to possess. Business China endeavours to cultivate bilingual and bicultural Singaporeans, with an all-rounded understanding of China’s economy and culture as well as the latest issues concerning China. The Business China Youth Showdown aims to offer young Singaporeans a platform to express their thoughts and ideas on issues relevant to youths from both countries, via the usage of English and Mandarin. Through the Showdown, participants are able to delve deeper into issues and hone their bilingual skills as they compete to convince the public with their creativity and persuasive ideas.”
Each team was given the opportunity to awe the audience in an 8-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. The teams were evaluated on the quality of their content (30%) and presentation (20%), performance in the Q&A session (20%) as well as overall bilingual competency (20%).
The judging panel consisted of the following individuals:
- Mr Ho Tong Yen, Director of Group Corporate Communications, Keppel Corporation;
- Dr Koh Chin Yee, Dean of Nanyang International Business College; and
- Mr Lawrence Wong, Lead of Partnership Chinese News & Current Affairs News Group, MediaCorp.
After an exciting round of showdown, Hwa Chong Institution (Team 1) emerged as overall champion while Eunoia Junior College (Team 1) and Hwa Chong Institution (Team 2) won the second and third prize respectively.
With the support of the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism, this year’s Youth Showdown introduced the inaugural Best Bilingual Presentation Award to commend the team with the most outstanding performance in their overall bilingual competency. Hwa Chong Institution (Team 2) emerged victorious to clinch the inaugural award and their performance impressed the judges.
The objective of the Business China Youth Showdown is to equip the youths with a deeper understanding of the forces and factors shaping China’s emergence as a global power in relevance to Singapore. This bilingual national platform provides the opportunity for Singaporean youths to exchange their views on hot-button China topics and interact with like-minded youths.
Visit our Business China Facebook page to view the teams’ presentations during #BusinessChinaYouthShowdown2019.