The Asian and Near Eastern Languages Department at BYU hosted its annual Chinese Language Competition in the basement of the Joseph F. Smith Building on March 3.
Throughout the basement, classes were divided into four competition categories, ranging from beginning to advanced and including speech and singing.
BYU students recited poems, submitted essays and even performed musical numbers — all in Chinese.
Anna Snow, a BYU student and officer for the Chinese club, loves all things China. She and other faculty members helped organize and host the event after helping out at last year's competition.
“This year there's a lot more people participating, it's really exciting,” Snow said. "Hopefully next year, we can get even more."
Snow said she appreciates the cultural understanding at BYU and that students from all levels of experience can come together to learn more about Chinese culture.
“I just think it's so cool to see Chinese learners come together from all different levels and experiences, and we're all just hopefully gonna cheer each other on,” Snow said.
Before the event started, the room was filled with energy as students excitedly spoke Chinese, reunited with friends and prepared themselves to compete. A few family members and friends attended and watched.
The judges, all native speakers, used a rubric to score the competition, then tallied the results and announced the winners.
Brandon Karl Smith, a BYU student and participant, was excited to compete.
He is enrolled in the lowest-level Chinese class at BYU, Chinese 102. This class helped prepare him to compete.
Smith was inspired to learn Chinese because of his grandpa.
“I got into Chinese because my grandpa served as a Taiwan mission president,” he said.
This coming summer, Smith will be spending his time in Taiwan and China. Before then, he is hoping to get more involved with the Chinese community at BYU.
When asked how he felt about performing, Smith said he was hesitant but prepared.
“I'm kind of nervous, I can't lie, but I've been practicing. I met with my TA outside of class, and I'm feeling confident.”
Despite being nervous, Smith won first place in the beginner category with his poem.
Landon Parker, another BYU student and participant, took Chinese 201 to continue learning Chinese.
“I started Chinese when I was really young in high school, and I served a mission in Singapore,” Parker said.
From then on, he decided to keep learning Chinese and compete. At the event, he recited a poem on how nature has changed his life.
He reflected on the impact of his poem.
“It's one thing to speak Chinese with people, it's another thing to memorize really good Chinese and use that to express something a lot deeper than just a normal conversation,” Parker said.
Parker won the most creative award for intermediate speeches.
As students waited for the results to be announced, they passed the time sharing jokes in Chinese.
The event concluded with awards and a promotion for BYU’s upcoming China 2026 Conference, where embassy representatives and alumni will speak and foster dialogue and professional connections within the BYU community.
Anyone interested in attending can find more information and registration details here.
