Thirty-two students have successfully completed their Chinese language course at the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.).

They were presented with monetary envelopes from the Chinese Embassy at the Aoa Conference Room yesterday afternoon.

During the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Samoa, Wang Xuefeng congratulated them.

“I am so happy to see that there are more and more Chinese-speaking Samoan friends, partly as a result of this Chinese learning programme,” he said.

“Sometimes when I attend some functions, I am pleasantly surprised to meet several Samoan young people who just talk with me in fluent Chinese.

“I heard some students during their introductions saying they want to have Chinese boyfriends and girlfriends and this shows that you speak quite good Chinese and that I can understand.

“So I want to congratulate you all for all the hard work and studies in learning the Chinese language.

“The friendship between our two people began more than 100 years ago.

“Many Samoan friends have blood connections with China and so that is one of the most important reasons for the good relationship between the two countries.

“Up until now, the Chinese Government has selected seven lecturers to teach Chinese language in the National University of Samoa.

“The success of this Chinese class is a good example of the cooperation between the N.U.S. and the Chinese Embassy.”

Vice Chancellor of N.U.S. Professor Fiu Asofou Soo acknowledged the support of the Chinese Ambassador and the Chinese government.

“Two years ago, the previous ambassador gave $2,000 at most to the students who learned Chinese language at N.U.S,” he said.

“At that time, there was no prize giving ceremony, it was just the money which was called the refund.

“In 2016, the Chinese Embassy in Samoa changed the name refund into the Chinese Government Encouragement Prize and the amount of money increases term by term.

“This semester the prize money totals $3,800 and Ambassador Wang Xuefeng pays more attention to education.  He gives a speech at every prize giving ceremony and encourages students to learn more about the Chinese language and culture.”