On November 18, 2019, the organizers of the 2019 Sasakawa Cup National Japanese-Language Essay Competition announced the results of the contest. Huang Kaiqi, a second-year CFLC student majoring in Japanese won the top prize, and her coach Minami Sakaki received the Award for the Best Instructor, while CFLC associate professors Ren Xing and Wang Hai won the Award for the Best Organizing.

The competition was jointly organized by the People’s China magazine, the Science Council of Japan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In the 2018 edition of the competition, CFCL also brought home three prizes.

This year’s competition was open to all higher-education institutions in China. A total of 1,763 entries were received from 141 universities across China, four winning the top prize and 14 receiving the second or third prizes or the excellence awards. CFLC students majoring in Japanese submitted their essays in the preliminary competition at CFLC, and four of the most outstanding essays were finally entered into the national competition after a rigorous selection process.

CFLC students participated in the competition for the first time in 2017, with second-year student Huang Jialuo bringing home a second prize. A year later, another second-year student, Zheng Yuyang, claimed the top prize. The consistent outstanding performance of CFLC students in the competitions are testaments to the high quality of the Japanese language program at CFLC, as well as CFLC’s intellectual prowess and proficiency in the Japanese language.

The People’s China magazine, a co-organizer of the Sasakawa Cup National Japanese-Language Essay Competition, was launched in 1953 and is currently China’s only national-level Japanese-language monthly publication. The mission of the magazine is to “enhance the friendship between China and Japan and increase the Japanese people’s understanding of China”.

The Science Council of Japan, another co-organizer of the competition, was established in 1924 and is one of the oldest public-interest organizations in Japan. The council aims to strengthen contact and collaboration among researchers in Japan and abroad, popularize scientific knowledge, reward scientific research, promote the development of science and technology, and contribute to the development of world peace. 

The winners of the annual essay competition will travel to Japan at the invitation of the Science Council of Japan for an eight-day exchange program, and the winning essays will also be published in the People’s China magazine.