Arenike Adebajo (UV) has won first prize in the British Council and HSBC’s Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition – winning a trip to Beijing.

After impressing judges at a regional heat last month, Arenike yesterday competed at the final at the British Museum, and came first. The nationwide competition aims to encourage greater interest in Chinese language and culture – which is vital to the UK’s future prosperity. Chinese is already spoken by more than 1.3 billion people worldwide and is gaining greater and greater importance, with China being the world’s second biggest economy. The competition is aimed at students who are non-native speakers, who have started learning Mandarin Chinese recently. Arenike competed in the advanced learners’ category and won a trip to China during the Easter Holidays.

Her teacher, Jane Healey, is delighted “I am so proud of Arenike, she is a talented linguist and has worked incredibly hard to achieve this fantastic prize”.