The online closing ceremony and awarding of the winners of “Hello, Russia!”, a quiz game on the Russian language and culture, took place on May 25 in the Mariinskiy Hall at Herzen University. The quiz game was organized jointly by Xi’an International University (Shaanxi Province, China) and the Department of Intensive Russian Language Training of the Institute of Russian as a Foreign Language at Herzen University. This project, which was both educational and recreational, was initiated by one of the University’s partner companies – Suzhou QiE Educational Science Technologies Co, Ltd. During the last couple of years, the company has been recruiting Chinese students to study in different academic programmes at Herzen University.

Initially, a group of lecturers in the Department of Intensive Russian Language Training prepared questions and designed other creative tasks, and then their colleagues at the Xi’an International University organised and conducted the event for their students. The closing ceremony and awarding of the winners was held online at both universities.

Yulia Komarova, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, welcomed the participants in the ceremony and conveyed congratulations to the winners on behalf of Herzen University. She stressed the importance of learning foreign languages for students of all academic backgrounds, citing words that go back to ancient times: "The more languages you know, the more of a person you are".

Oksana Igoshina, an associate professor in the Department of Intensive Russian Language Training, announced the names of the winners and laureates of the quiz game. First-prize winner Oyan Fengxiao (欧阳凤娇) thanked the organisers on behalf of all the participants. She also expressed her wish to continue studying the Russian language and culture and to visit St.-Petersburg at the earliest opportunity.