SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Three winners of a regional qualifying round of overseas Chinese singing contest will represent San Francisco to compete in finals held in Beijing later this year, an organizer said Saturday.
The San Francisco division of the 2019 "Cultures of China Water Cube Cup" Chinese Songs Contest for Overseas Chinese, a global activity to introduce Chinese culture and tell Chinese stories to the world, concluded Saturday in Silicon Valley, with 24 candidates competing for three vacancies for the finals.
Top two winners of the youth group and the first place of the adult group will get the opportunity to travel to Beijing to compete with participants from other parts of the world.
"I'm satisfied with my performance today with the song 'Wait'," said 14-year-old Angelina Chen, one top winner of the youth group. "It's a very difficult song. I've heard from several others and I wanted to choose it because I like to challenge myself, you know, take risks."
The competition is inspiring, because "everybody is unique and special and different in their own way," said Chen, an eight-grade girl from a public high school in Fremont, northern California, adding that she was excited to grab the opportunity to go to Beijing after a fierce competition.
The singing competition is of special significance to overseas Chinese in the Bay Area, because the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, also known as the Water Cube, benefited from financial contributions of overseas Chinese when it was built for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, said Rose He, one leading member of the contest's organizing committee.
The event aims to encourage young overseas Chinese to promote cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, including the United States, said He, also vice president of Chinese for Peaceful Unification-Northern California, a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to China's full reunification.
"The singing competition is also held to support the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games," she said.
Initiated in 2011, the contest has attracted over 8,000 participants from more than 30 countries and regions around the world.
