On November 1, 2025, the 15th National Debate Competition for Students majoring in German concluded successfully in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. The event was jointly organized by the Goethe-Institut China, Nanchang University, and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, attracting teams from 41 universities across the country. The Department of German Language and Literature at School of Foreign Languages sent Yuan Yifan and Yuan Jiayi, both sophomore students, to compete as a team in the competition. With their solid language foundation, clear argumentation abilities, and excellent teamwork, they excelled through a series of rounds and ultimately won the championship.

(The Peking University team wins the championship.)

To prepare for the competition, Yuan Yifan and Yuan Jiayi engaged in intensive and in-depth training. They studied language materials, analyzed current issues, and refined their arguments, steadily enhancing both their language proficiency and debating techniques, and ultimately emerged victorious in this grand confluence of language and thought. Under the coordination of faculty advisor Asso. Prof. Mao Mingchao, students from various grades of the Department of German Language and Literature formed a support team to assist with topic research, argument collection, and material organization, and demonstrated the cohesive spirit of collaboration across year groups within the department.

(Yuan Yifan [left] and Yuan Jiayi [right] during the debate.)

The team has secured consecutive victories in the national competition, successfully defending the title they won in 2024.

Translated by Xing Yifei, Mao Mingchao