FREIBURG, Germany, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The German preliminary round of the 18th "Chinese Bridge" language proficiency competition for foreign college students took place here Saturday.

Getting together with dozens of their companions, local sinology professors, teachers of Confucius Institutes in Freiburg's Historical Merchants' Hall, 13 contestants from 9 German colleges demonstrated in the annual contest their Chinese speaking proficiency as well as understanding of Chinese culture.

After all of the three segments of the contest, namely speech on the topic "One World, One Family", Chinese-related Q&A and individual talent show such as instrumental playing, singing, painting, acrobatics and Kung Fu performance, three contestants stood out and won through to the final stage of the competition due to be held in China this summer.

In addition, a fourth contestant is also invited to travel with them to China for watching the finals and attending relevant events.

Winning first prize in the contest, David Suarez Caspar, a 24-year-old student majoring in musicology at Goethe University Frankfurt, said he looks forward to the coming journey to China.

"I look forward to meeting lots of Chinese learners from all over the world by attending 'Chinese Bridge' finals," Caspar told Xinhua, adding that he expected to exchange individual experience of learning Chinese with the other contestants amid the finals in China.

Simply for love of different languages at the beginning, Caspar had launched his journey of learning Chinese around four years ago. Twice so far has Caspar been to China. Particularly, he appreciated the study experience in Peking University last year, which helped him notably improve his understanding of China and its language.

Caspar told Xinhua that he might soon write a rap song in Chinese, which could simultaneously contribute to his further study of musicology and sinology.