HOUSTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The second Chinese Songs Contest for Overseas Chinese was held Saturday evening in Houston, Texas, the United States, and the top two contenders of the youth group and the top contender of the adult group are going to compete in the grand finals in Beijing, China next month.
Salina Mu, 12-year girl who was awarded the highest scores in the youth group, told Xinhua that she loves singing and very happy for winning the chance to Beijing for the grand finals.
As second generation of Chinese immigration, she was born in the United States. She said, "It' s quite helpful for me to improve my Chinese by singing Chinese songs."
The Houston contest is part of the seventh edition of global Chinese Songs Contest for Overseas Chinese under the title of "2018 Cultures of China: Water Cube Cup."
It is the second time for Houston's Chinese community to participate in the event and host the southern U.S. divisional contest.
In 2017, the youth group contenders from Houston achieved impressive results during the grand finals in Beijing and made the local Chinese communities proud. This year, participants from Austin, the Texas state capital, Dallas, the Texas economic power house, and Baton Rouge, neighboring Louisiana state capital are all competing in the divisional contest in Houston.
The event was sponsored by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in Beijing, Media and Communications Department of the Organizing Committee for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as well as several other agencies. It aims to gain support for the 2022 Winter Olympics among the overseas Chinese, promote Chinese heritages, build harmonious overseas Chinese communities, construct a world class Chinese culture festival, and bridge the Chinese and international culture gaps.
The first Culture Festival of Water Cube was introduced this year, which consists contests of photography, calligraphy and painting.
The gala night and award ceremony will be held on August 8 at the Beijing National Aquatics Center, commonly known as the Water Cube.
