Recently, the 23rd “FLTRP · ETIC Cup” National English Debating Competition, North China Regional Finals was held online. Led by Sun Mei, a teacher from the School of Foreign Languages, the team from Beihang University composed of two students, Yao Haotian and Xiang Zhaoxuan, delivered great performances in the five preliminary rounds and won the championship in the regional finals.
The topic of the debating competition is “Fictional structure of Chinese traditional cultural IPs should be predominantly emphasized characters’ own agency and autonomy”. It aims to test candidates' deep understandings of the Chinese traditional culture and help students to explore how it may thrive in the modern times. Facing with such a cultural debate, the two debaters in science and engineering majors did not show any weakness. With their rich knowledge reserves, in-depth thinking and exquisite debating skills, they impressed the judges and won the championship finally.
The Beihang team, together with the teams from Peking University, China Foreign Affairs University and Beijing Language and Culture University, was qualified for the national finals to be held in June.
Yao Haotian and Xiang Zhaoxuan are both students in Beihang's Elite English class. Yao Haotian is the president and Xiang Zhaoxuan is also the backbone of the Beihang English Debating Society. They have achieved good results in debate competitions at home and abroad for many times (including the championship in 2020 North East Asia Debate Championship, EFL Group). They also organized the 2020 and 2021 Beihang International Online Debating Championship (BIODC), making their own contributions to the inheritance and promotion of English debating.
In June, Yao Haotian and Xiang Zhaoxuan will represent Beihang University to race for the final championship of the National English Debating Competition. They will also team up to compete in the online World Universities Debating Competition (WUDC) later this year. In addition, as the instructor, Xiang Zhaoxuan will lead the new generation of Beihang debaters to participate in the first China Universities Debating Championship (CUDC) held by China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration.
Reported by Xu Guohong
Reviewed by Ma Shuwei
Edited by Jia Aiping
Translated by Zheng Quan
