The schoolgirl's prize was an expenses-paid trip to the annual international English-speaking competition, to be held by the English-Speaking Union in London in May 2003. It will be the first time that a Chinese high-school student will have taken part in the international competition.

Contestants from around China presented a prepared speech on the topic "Learning English - My Personal Story" and each answered two questions that they picked at random before going on stage. The topics of the questions ranged from puppy love to the cause of earthquakes.

All the contestants did a pretty good job, said Helen Halligan, the English-language teaching manager of the British Council, who was a judge in the competition. She said it was amazing that high-school students in China could use English so well.

However, what surprised the judges most was not the students' excellent English but their wide range of knowledge.

"I was afraid that the questions would be too difficult for them," said Nie Lisheng, editor-in-chief of 21st Century weekly, the organizer of the competition. "But soon I found that I didn't have a single reason to worry for they seemed to know quite a lot about (things such as) the solar system or AIDS prevention" added Nie.

Huang Qing, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily and another judge in the competition, said: "It shows how much the students care about the world around them instead of only concentrating on their studies. I was quite surprised that the students could deal with questions with such deep thought and a global view."

Another four students won a one-week study trip to Australia or Singapore.

(China Daily December 16, 2002)