Under these circumstances, the call for “one world, one family” urges all the countries in the world to: replace the old mindsets of “zero-sum game”,“I win you lose” and “the winner takes all” with the new concept of win-win for all, promote exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations in the spirit of “harmony without uniformity”, and strive for consensus, tide over difficult times and support one another in achieving our common goals. By working together, we can build a community with a shared future for mankind. By working together, we can create a brighter future for the world. 

As we all know, language is the key to the door, is the carrier of culture and tool for communication. Acquiring a new language means obtaining a key to more friends, a new world and more beautiful future. Learning Chinese is like opening the door to Chinese culture. You can gain much insight into the Chinese people’s way of life, behaviour, values, national psychology and character. As well as contributing factors for China’s economic and social transformation in the past few decades.

Language is also a bridge of friendship between different countries and nations. Literally, 汉语桥 (in english is Chinese Bridge) means Chinese language is a bridge. This bridge will lead you to a colourful China. At more than 5,000 years, the Chinese civilisation is the only continuous one of the four ancient civilisations, and much of it can be attributed to the invention and wide use of the written characters in the Chinese language. Just like Samuel Johnson, the writer of A Dictionary of the English Languag, said, “Language is the dress of thought”; “words are but signs of ideas”. With more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China has grown to be the second largest economy in the world. Last year, The Chinese government has declared that absolute poverty has been completely eliminated. That means nearly 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in China since 1980. China has made a major contribution to global development. China is committed to peaceful coexistence, win-win cooperation, mutual learning and integration with other countries. At the same time, it feels strongly about the diversity of civilisations. We believe that the world needs to seek harmony in diversity. We need to enhance mutual understanding through greater knowledge about each other’s language and culture. Only in this way will the world be a more harmonious and a better place.

I am very pleased to see that there has been a growing enthusiasm for learning the Chinese language here in Sri Lanka over recent years. More and more Sri Lankan people have gained a deeper understanding of China through learning the Chinese language. I think this is what the “Chinese Bridge” competition is about. This year marks the 65th anniversary of China-Sri Lanka diplomatic ties and the 70th anniversary of the Ruber-Rice Pact. Over the past decades, China-Sri Lanka friendly relations have stood the test of time. China-sri Lanka friendship has grown stronger with the passage of time. The future of China-Sri Lanka relations lies in the hands of the youth. The seeds of peace and friendship are most likely to take root in the hearts of our young people. If young people in both countries can master each other’s languages, the future of China-Sri Lanka friendly cooperation would be promising and bright. If we all work hard and support each other, we can build bridges between hearts, we can build bridges for cultural exchanges and we can build bridges of friendship and cooperation.