On 23 June, Minister Zhao Fei from the Chinese Embassy in the UK attended the opening ceremony of the 22nd "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency UK Regional Final and delivered a speech. More than 200 people, including Professor Dolores Kelly, Chief Whip of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland, Ms Yang Qing, representative of the Bank of China London Branch, as well as deans and teachers from Confucius Institutes in the UK and representatives from British primary and secondary schools and universities, joined event.

Minister Zhao extended congratulations to the contestants who advanced to the finals. He said that both China and the UK are countries with long histories and profound cultures, and that both attach great importance to the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture, making outstanding contributions to human civilisation. Entering a new stage of development, China will embrace the world with a more open mind and provide more opportunities for the world with its own development. He expressed hope that by learning Chinese, students will cultivate a spirit of diversity and inclusiveness and build cross-cultural communication skills so as to become ambassadors of friendship between China and the UK.

After more than four hours of competition, Sol Stappard from the University of Manchester won the champion title in the professional category, and Sebastian Louis Jackson from Heriot-Watt University won the championship in the non-professional category.