On the 29th of May, 2016, the 15th Chinese Bridge Competition, sponsored by the Confucius Institute Headquarters and the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, was organized successfully in Athens by the Business Confucius Institute in Athens.

The competition included two phases, the preliminary contest and the final contest. Over 100 students participated at the preliminary phase, and the top 10 were selected to attend the final competition. The final competition consisted of two parts, speech and talent show. In the first part, 10 contestants delivered speeches concerning their own story about China and their Chinese dreams, revealing their remarkable expression and command of Chinese. In the talent show part, some contestants performed Chinese traditional dance, sang Chinese songs, or performed Chinese martial arts, such as Tai Chi Tsuan and Wu bu Tsuan. Their impassioned and exceptional performance won rounds of applause and cheers from the audience. After a 4-hour fierce competition, the students of the Business Confucius Institute in Athens won the top three prizes. The first and second ranking contestants, Varvara Christopoulou and Maria Paparizou, will participate at the Global Final Chinese Bridge Competition in China, representing Greece this summer.

On Sept 26, 2015, Business Confucius Institute (BCI) in Athens held a celebration party for 2015 Confucius Institute Day and Chinese Mid-autumn Day at Andoniadou Amphitheatre of AUEB. More than one hundred people attended the event, which was honored and prided by the presence of Prof. Gatsios, rector of AUEB, Mr. Zou Xiaoli, Chinese ambassador to Hellenic Republic, and heads of some Chinese business societies and Chinese-funded enterprises in Greece. News Channel and English Channel of China Central Television (CCTV) and Sino-Hellenic Times gave an on-the-spot report of the celebration.

Before the party began, both Prof. Gatsios and His Excellency made an analysis of Sino-Hellenic relations and proposed some prospects for the future work of BCI in their speeches. The speech of His Excellency was in fact his premiere speech in public after Prime Minister Tripras won his second election.
Dr. Dimitris Kardaras, Director of BCI, and Prof. Zu Lijun, Chinese Co-director, chaired the whole occasion from beginning to end. 

On May 9, Saturday, 7 top candidates selected among over 100 participants took part in the final contest for the “14th Chinese Bridge Contest” in Greece. They are Greek students who have learned Chinese for 2.5 years or over 10 years time. The judges are Mr. Zhang Zhan, the cultural attaché from Chinese Embassy, Ms Yang Xiuqin, the co-director of BCI, and other 5 teachers and scholars who are very experienced in Chinese language teaching in Greece.

After the exciting competition on Oral Speech, Questions/Answers, and presentation of the Chinese Arts, Miss Myrto Pollali (米豆) wins the first Prize, Ms Varga Rita and Miss Yuonne Goettler (仪芳) win the second Prize, and Miss Anastasia Ershova, Mr. Nikolas Polyzoidis (陈建华), Ms Irini Ioannidi(艾琳) and Miss Martha Kakouni win the third Prize.

This Contest is held every year one time, for choosing the best in learning Chinese language and culture. The winners will represent Greece to go to China in July this year to participate in the Global University students Competition for Chinese language and cultural knowledge. Top Chinese universities will offer them scholarships for learning from one semester to one year in China.