Overseas Delegations Win Awards at China's National Middle School Essay Competition Finals

In April 2026, the finals of the China National Middle School Essay Competition (2025–2026) concluded successfully in Shanghai. The Henan regional division secured multiple national awards, and international exchange outcomes were substantial. Leveraging this competition as an international platform, Zhongxuesheng Xuexi Bao (Middle School Students' Study Paper) and the Global Association of Cultural and Educational Exchange (GACEE) deepened collaboration, fully integrating exclusive overseas Chinese school resources from the World Chinese Essay Competition and International Study Tours into the China National Middle School Essay Competition. This has established a global ecosystem for adolescent Chinese writing and cultural exchange—characterised by ‘interconnected competitions, shared resources, and integrated cultures’—and built an authoritative, efficient and sustainable bridge for transmitting Chinese literary traditions overseas and fostering mutual learning among civilisations.

As the sole organiser of the Henan regional division of the China National Middle School Essay Competition, Zhongxuesheng Xuexi Bao has long specialised in adolescent literary education and cultural dissemination. With professional competition management, authoritative mentoring frameworks and extensive campus outreach, it has become a benchmark force in domestic middle-school writing contests. GACEE, meanwhile, commands exclusive resources across Chinese-language schools on five continents and has long focused on Chinese-language education and cultural exchange for overseas Chinese youth. It holds irreplaceable channel advantages and brand influence in international study tours, global shared reading initiatives and cross-border cultural activities. The strategic alliance between these two entities achieves an exclusive linkage between top-tier domestic competition resources and the global Chinese-school network, forming a complete closed loop of ‘domestic selection—international competition—study practice—cultural dissemination’—a model distinctive among comparable national initiatives.

Capitalising on its exclusive resource integration capacity, the partnership has embedded international participants and overseas dissemination channels from the World Chinese Essay Competition—and immersive cultural experiences, intangible cultural heritage workshops and elite university visits from the International Study Tour—directly into the China National Middle School Essay Competition framework. At this year’s Shanghai finals, the Malaysian and Cambodian delegations—officially invited by Zhongxuesheng Xuexi Bao and GACEE—participated smoothly and won major honours including the ‘Wenxin Zhiyuan International Exchange Award’ and the ‘Outstanding Chinese Writing Tutor Award’. This marks a dual breakthrough for overseas students: both participation and award-winning success—and stands as a landmark outcome of the two platforms’ resource integration. Concurrently, the ‘Walking China, Sustaining Our Literary Heritage’ International Study Tour is deeply aligned with the competition, offering domestic and overseas youth a growth pathway of ‘making friends through writing and gaining knowledge through experience’. It enables overseas youth to engage directly with the roots of Chinese civilisation, while empowering Chinese students to build cultural bridges to the world.

This resource integration and model innovation not only enriches the China National Middle School Essay Competition with international dimensions, but also provides overseas Chinese youth with an authoritative, professional platform to showcase their Chinese-language proficiency. Writing fosters cultural identity; exchange nurtures patriotic and national sentiment. Through its unique, exclusive and authoritative resource integration capability, Zhongxuesheng Xuexi Bao and GACEE break down barriers between domestic competitions and international exchange, connecting the full chain—from cultural inheritance and educational innovation to international communication. The initiative builds a ladder for Central Plains students to reach the world, and opens a window for overseas youth to understand and comprehend China—truly realising the vision of ‘nurturing hearts through literature, uniting strength through competition, transmitting charm through study, and connecting continents through bridges’.

Looking ahead, the two parties will continue to deepen their strategic partnership, further leverage their exclusive resource advantages, and refine the integrated model of ‘competition + study tour + exchange + communication’. They aim to elevate the China National Middle School Essay Competition into a premier cultural exchange brand—renowned both domestically and internationally—so that the beauty of the Chinese language resonates across the globe and the Chinese literary tradition endures unbroken. In doing so, they will make a distinctive and vital contribution to cultivating new generations of talent imbued with patriotism and global vision, advancing mutual learning among civilisations, and building a strong cultural nation.

Xu Jianqiang. Proofread by Li Na.