A 12-year-old Ghanaian multilingual and multicultural student put Ghana on the stoplight at the 2025 Chinese Bridge Competition held at Beijing in China.
Mafaatih Wunnam Alidu-Cotachi topped all African students and placed 6th at the world competition becoming the first Ghanaian to reach such a milestone in the history of the Chinese language and culture competition.
The Chinese Bridge Competition is an annual global event that showcases foreign students’ proficiency in the Chinese language and culture. It was initiated by the Chinese government in 2002 to promote cultural exchange, Chinese language learning, and cultural understanding.
This annual international contest allows non-Chinese students to showcase their Chinese language proficiency and knowledge of Chinese culture.
Wunnam, a 12-year-old student from the University of Cape Coast Primary School represented Ghana among 76 participating countries in this year’s competition after sailing through the preliminary, semi-finals, and the global finals.
The preliminary round was held among KNUST, University of Ghana, Legon, and UCC Basic Schools during which Wunnam emerged winner. That qualified him to the semi-finals made up of top-three performers from all participating schools in Ghana.
At the national competition held at the Confucius Institute of the University of Cape Coast, Mafaatih Wunnam did not only win the overall best performer, he also become the best in speech and talent categories. This earned Wunnam a national champion and a ticket to represent the Republic of Ghana at the global competition in Beijing, China.
The global final was held from 17th to 28th of September, 2025. The two weeks period was marked with various language and cultural activities. Each day activity was considered to be part of the contest where the contestants’ ability to socialise and interact with other participants was keenly observed by the judges.
On Sunday, September 21, 2025, the contestants were given a stage to justify their inclusion. Wunnam had the singular task and honour of proving to the world that Ghana is, indeed, the gateway to Africa and hope for the world.
Out of 76 participants representing their respective countries, Wunnam made it to the first batch of the 15 top best performers. The 15 contestants were again given another stage performance on the 24th of September, 2025, where Wunnam’s excellent display propelled him led to the position as overall best performer among the African countries at the event. On the global ranking, Wunnam had the 6 position.
The historic achievement of Wunnam is a testament of the exceptional talents and diversity of Ghanaian children anchored on strong family groom and formal education.
