SARAJEVO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) edition of the 18th "Chinese Bridge" -- Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students was held on Monday in Pale, east of the capital Sarajevo.

Under the theme of "One world, one family", 7 contestants demonstrated their familiarity with the Chinese language, culture and history during the three-part competition: questions and answers, speech and talent show.

Tony, from the German department of Banja Luka University, won first place among the seven contestants with his fluent speech and excellent martial arts skills.

"I love Chinese martial arts and I love the philosophy behind them even more," the mild-mannered contestant said.

In his opening speech, Draga Mastilovic, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of East Sarajevo, reviewed the development of Chinese language teaching in BiH in recent years. He said that interest in the Chinese language has been on the rise in the country, and that the University of East Sarajevo is the only higher education institute in BiH to offer a Chinese language department.

He said he looked forward to further in-depth cultural exchanges between China and BiH.