Students share their love for their hometowns
2021 "Young Voice, China Story," an English-speaking contest held over three months in which nearly 20,000 students between the ages of 6 and 18 took part, has attracted a lot of attention for providing students with an outlet to display their English talent and showcase their veneration of China to the world. Participants share their stories on the topics "This Is Me," "Changes In My City," "If I Had A Time Machine" and "A World That Has Changed The World." Let's listen to the thoughtful insights of one top-prize and five first-prize winners in the Primary School Division.
My hometown
I was born in Shanghai where I still live. Shanghai is a big international city with many modern buildings.
I can't wait to share with you the Shanghai Tower which has a height of 632 meters and is the tallest building in Asia. Now, you can go sightseeing there and enjoy the highest views of Shanghai, which is worthy of expectations.
Zhou Xinyu, 9, from Shanghai Jinzhou Primary School is the top-prize winner.
Shanghai cuisine is very famous and delicious. My favorite Shanghai cuisine is xiaolongbao, which is also called soup dumpling. There are several kinds of soup dumpling according to different ingredients such as pork, shrimp and crab. Soup dumpling is steamed in the bamboo basket. When you eat it, you must be very careful. Because the skin is easy to be broken, and the hot soup will flow out. If you have a try, you will never forget it.
As a Shanghainese, I have to say the people here are very nice and friendly.
Furthermore, Shanghai is the safest city in the world, even facing up the coronavirus.
Shanghai is a fantastic place to visit. I love my hometown Shanghai.
Smiling faces in Shanghai
Do you know which is the most beautiful city in China? Yes, the answer is Shanghai, the city where I was born and live.
If you come to Shanghai, you'll be amazing at its developing speed. Eleven years ago, my mom rarely took me outdoor when I was an infant, because she could hardly find a place breast-feed me and change my diapers. After my sister was born, things became different, my parents often take my sister and me to the parks and shopping malls, as we know that mother and baby rooms have been set up in many places. Last month, we took our grandpa who sits in a wheelchair to the Bund by subway, he was excited and said, "I have never been here for decades. Now everywhere is convenient for me to pass by in a wheelchair."
Zhang Yahan, 11, from the Primary School Attached to Shanghai No. 1 Normal School, is the first-prize winner.
I like to go to the library and gym sports center on weekends because they are opening to the public and most of them are free for charge. I love my city Shanghai so much. The reason isn't how tall the skyscrapers it has, how fast the underground going or how easy we can get things from apps. It is because she embraces everyone peacefully, passionately and fairly. She gives my mom, my sister, my grandpa, and everyone smiles on their faces. So this is Shanghai. Hope you could discover her, appreciate her and love her.
To brand new myself
Who am I? How am I? Pretty, lovely, kindly, unruly, childish, talkative, fantastic, etc.
I have heard all these words from people around me, but I think these words are not even enough to describe me. Sometimes I can't restrain myself.
Dong Muchen, 9, from Fengxian Mingde Foreign Language Primary School, is the first-prize winner.
Once I couldn't stop talking with my deskmate during the class. The teacher told this thing to my parents. So my parents told me that I always forgot to think deeply when the words just spilled out.
"Math is your weak subject," my teacher said. "Oh! No! It's totally unacceptable!" The matter of fact is I'm not sensitive to numbers. But I'm still a brave girl, I never be afraid to face my weak points.
I will try my best to find the way to the mystery of Math. And I believe I will be better and better in future.
This is me, this is Emily, a girl who knows herself very well.
My hobbies and my dreams
I like many things such as swimming, reading and learning English, but drawing and playing LEGO are my favorites among all my hobbies.
Peng Yihan, 9, from the Primary School Attached to Shanghai No. 1 Normal School, is the first-prize winner.
You may feel puzzled, how can drawing and playing LEGO related to dreams? Right! Becoming an architect! Drawing helps me to design, and building LEGO is a good practice. I dream to be an architect someday, so that I could design and build magnificent buildings. More important is, I could help poor people to rebuild their places by a better design, they couldn't afford a new apartment, but good layout could help them live in a better life. Today, with the great efforts of the Chinese government, we're proud to say that extreme poverty has been eliminated in China.
But still, millions of Chinese people are suffering from their narrow living places, I wish I could dedicate my life to help them.
I'm 9 years old, I'm working on my dreams, I believe my dreams will come true someday, and I do believe China will become better and better.
Changes in city
Since the start of COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest change for cities is that they are becoming cleaner and more intelligent. People are keeping social distance and paying more attention to wearing masks, hand washing, and personal hygiene.
Yuan Jia, 10, from Shanghai Jinshan Haitang Primary School, is the first-prize winner.
The sanitation of the city is also getting better and better. Disinfected vehicles are everywhere in the city to make sure the health and safety of the public.
When we talk about urban life, it is becoming more intelligent. Online shopping, livestream retailing and contactless payments are more and more popular. People's travel history, health conditions are included into city's intelligent system.
New technologies are used to track people's traveling. Remote office, online meeting become new efficient ways to work and communicate.
For students like us, we take online courses and finish our homework through Internet. Although the pandemic kept us apart in social distance, the distance between our hearts are brought closer and closer. Our city will become better as we unite together shoulder to shoulder.
Changes in my city
The city where I live is a big modern city, Shanghai. At present, China International Import Expo (CIIE) has become a synonym of Shanghai. I think it really brought great changes to Shanghai.
Zhang Jiayi, 10, from Shanghai Jinzhou Primary School, is the first-prize winner.
CIIE is a cosmopolitan large exhibition. Shanghai has hosted three CIIE since 2018. People arrived from more than 100 countries, attended the exhibitions and took so many kinds of products, such as delicious foods, high-tech machines, beautiful jewelry, and such. I think the exhibition brought great changes to Shanghai. It opened a window for us to see the world.
The success of CIIE made Shanghai be a hub of exchange between China and the world. It also facilitated the development of Shanghai. I was surprised when I found the foods I tasted in the CIIE were sold in the supermarket just a few days later. I was even more shocked to know the amazing technique I saw in the CIIE was applied in a new product within a month! Can you imagine that? CIIE made our city more modern, made the life in Shanghai more convenient, and made people in Shanghai more confident!
I love these changes and enjoy them. I look forward to the next expo bringing more changes to Shanghai!
