Bulgarian national qualification contest of the ninth "Chinese Bridge", a Chinese language proficiency competition for foreign secondary school students, was held here on Saturday.

Thirteen participants, representing the 2,000 teenagers studying Chinese in 20 Bulgarian schools, demonstrated Chinese language and cultural skills such as dancing, singing, calligraphy, tea ceremony and martial arts.

Izabel Ignatova from Sofia won the competition, and will represent Bulgaria at the finals in China together with the competition's runner-up Iliyana Georgieva from the town of Ruse.

The "Chinese Bridge" competition was first organized in 2008 to inspire the students between 15 to 20 years old to learn Chinese and enhance their understanding of the Chinese culture.