The annual Japan Chinese Speech Contest of the All Japan Shizuoka-ken Regional Competition kicked off online on Oct 23. Forty-eight students, college students and residents of Shizuoka Prefecture participated in the competition.

The event was jointly held by the Japan-China Friendship Association of Shizuoka-ken Prefecture and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

The advisor of the Shizuoka-ken Prefecture Japan-China Friendship Association and the chairman of the Prefectural Japan-China Education Exchange Association, Taichi Wurmette attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. 

In his speech, the vice president of the provincial friendship association Xing Huidong pointed out that the Chinese speech contest has special significance as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations, as well as the 40th anniversary of the establishment of friendly relations between Zhejiang province and Shizuoka-ken Prefecture.

Xing also expressed hope that Chinese language lovers in Shizuoka-ken Prefecture will continue to learn Chinese, and encouraged contestants to learn more about China through its language.