On the night of August 30th, 2009, Ammar, the doctoral student of the School of Medicine, Zhejiang University won the championship and the title of ��Star of Chinese Language�� on the finals of the 2nd Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Contest jointly held by Hanban and China Central TV. Prof. Yang Wei, the President of Zhejiang University witnessed the moment on the scene.

It��s the second year that Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Contest for International Students studying in China was held. Compared with last year, the 2nd one has grown up rapidly. There were altogether 14 contest zones this year, 9 more than last year. More than 700 contestants selected by 75 prestigious universities across the country, including schools in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, took part in the competition.

With his solid foundation of the language skills, a wide scope of Chinese knowledge and constant fondness of learning, Ammar, the 32-year old medical PhD student from Yemen performed very well in each round of the contest. He managed to fight his way to the grand final through preliminary, semi-finals, almost 30 passes of different degrees of difficulty with his cool-headedness, which is not surprising for a good medical student, careful and precise delivery, quick response and wit. The last game was played between him and another contestant from Peking University and Ammar turned out the person who laughed last and gained his laurels, the title of Star of Chinese Language, the highest prize of the whole competition.

President Yang Wei was present to witness the exciting moment and sent his congratulations to him. Ever since Mid-may when the preliminary of the contest was launched on campus, teachers and staff members of the International College were with Ammar and other contestants to give them support, encouragement and professional guide and training. Ammar��s winning the champion made all their efforts rewarding.

After coming back from Beijing with his championship, Ammar��s life was no longer the same as before. He has been drawing a lot of media attention from Hangzhou and even other cities. His image of wearing the traditional Arabic robe and scimitar appeared quite frequently in different occasions. Numerous interviews from TV channels and newspapers have lined up and the latest one was with Dushi Kuaibao, a very popular and influential urban daily newspaper, in which, he introduced to millions of local readers in Zhejiang province his home country Yemen. The 3-page weekend feature was apparently inspired by the recent global attention to this Middle East country. In the interview, Ammar passionately talked about his home country, his life there with both happiness and worries. What he said in the feature offered his readers a vivid description and different perspective of his country and people living there, which made Yemen not that remote for people living in Hangzhou.

(Translated and written by XU Xiaohang on the basis of work by ZHOU Xiaoling)