Wenzhou University (WZU) successfully organized the semi-final and final of the 4^th SFLEP Cup Zhejiang College Students’ Intercultural Competence Contest online on December 3^rd and 4^th. The Contest this year was hosted by Zhejiang Association of Foreign Languages & Literature, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (SFLEP), with academic support from SISU Intercultural Institute.

The Contest kicked off with the speeches by WZU’s Vice President Xu Hekun and SFLEP’s President and Senior Editor Sun Yu.

Xu said Wenzhounese began to explore the world long time ago. In the Yuan dynasty (1267-1368), Zhou Daguan from Wenzhou was sent to foreign countries as envoy and wrote the book Geography & Customs of Zhenla Cambodia. Nowadays, Wenzhounese do businesses globally and create their own entrepreneurial history. Today, education globalization is in full swing, global localization is sought-after, the principle of “a community with a shared future for mankind” gains ground. Under such a circumstance, holding the Contest plays a significant role in advancing WZU School of Foreign Study’s disciplinary development and specialty construction, and in honing WZU students’ ability to tell China’s and Wenzhou’s stories.

Sun said College Students’ Intercultural Communication Competence Contest and Assessment of College Students’ Intercultural Communication Competence are important platforms for implementing SFLEP’s intercultural communication projects. Through these two channels, the press shall, as always, continue to assist China’s institutions of higher learning with their intercultural communication teaching and international talents training, strengthen their international communication power, deepen their exchanges with and learning from different civilizations, help them to meet proactively China’s national strategic demands.

The Contest tests contestants’ intercultural awareness and sensitivity, emotions and attitudes, basic theories and perspectives, communication competence, and innovation capacity according to the content, implication and delivery of their works. Generally speaking, it evaluates their ability to analyze and solve problems in multicultural and intercultural contexts. After the fierce two-day competition, WZU students garnered the first prize for the fourth time in a run. Under the guidance of its talent training philosophy “SMART” and honoring its role of the contest secretariat, School of Foreign Studies recently has encouraged its faculties and students to participate in a wealth of fruitful volunteer activities for foreigners and in the publicity of Wenzhou’s regional culture.

The contestants won thunderous applause from Steve J. Kulich, head of the judge panel for the final, professor at SISU and former president of International Academy for Intercultural Research (2019-2021), and Wang Yi’an, head of the judge panel for the semi-final and professor at Hangzhou Dianzi University. They said the candidates’ performances were amazing; their topics were up-to-date, diverse, typical; their theoretical analyses were broader and deeper than the previous; their intercultural awareness was fortified to a greater extent. The Contest broadens college students’ global vision, enhances their global competence, and boosts their ability to tell China’s stories, understand the world, and learn from different civilizations.