The 15th Chinese Bridge Cup contest ended last month after two days of competition among students from various schools in Northern California.

The annual contest, jointly hosted by the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Unified School District, drew more than 1,000 young people from Northern California.

The students, including second-generation Chinese-Americans born in the United States, demonstrated their talent in Chinese calligraphy and painting, as well as their language proficiency in the contest.

A program coordinator for the competition, who did not want to be identified, says about 400 students took part in the poetry recitation contests in Mandarin and Cantonese on the second day of the two-day event.

Many of them chose ancient Chinese poems, while others recited modern Chinese poetry.

Jiaxin Xie, the director of Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University, says the contest is part of the Confucius Institute's efforts to promote Chinese education and culture among US students and the general public.

"Teachers from the Confucius Institute offered free noncredit programs in Chinese to students and staff members of SFSU, and they received a good response from the participants," says Xie.

Such programs cater to the needs of US students who have an interest in the Chinese language and culture, he says.

David Wong, the assistant superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, says the contest is a platform for middle and high school students to expand their horizons.

"It's an opportunity for the students to express themselves," Wong says.

Christine Facella, the assistant superintendent of Educational Services at Riverbank Unified School District in Central Valley of California, says cooperation with the Confucius Institute will help her school district obtain resources to improve Chinese language training and teaching as Chinese education in her area is relatively weak compared to other regions of Northern California.