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Secondary schools from across Northern Ireland were invited to take part in the HSBC / British Council Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition at The MAC, Belfast on November 28.

The national speaking competition is now in its fifteenth year, but this will be the first time it has ever taken place in Northern Ireland, with this heat supported by the Confucius Institute at Ulster University.

Mixed ability groups were given the opportunity to perform a short song or drama while in the individual section brave individuals took to the stage alone to make a speech in Mandarin followed by questions from the panel of judges.

The winners of the Northern Ireland heat will then be put forward to the UK-wide heat in the British Museum, London in February 2018 – with the overall winner, winning a week in Beijing.