A huge part of the celebrations during the upcoming Lantern Festival is solving the riddles written on the lanterns. That's one of the reasons CCTV's Riddle Guessing Competition is such a huge hit with viewers across China. The final competition takes place this Thursday.
Students from 10 middle schools battle it out, solving riddles in front of a nationwide audience. Six teams have emerged from previous competitions to make it to the finals.
"Many of the contestants were a bit nervous because it’s their first time on the CCTV stage. We expect them to fair better in the finals now that they've gotten used to the atmosphere,"said Liu Fan, director of the competition.
Though the contestants are middle school students in their teens, they are seasoned riddle solvers.
"Riddles require a lot of knowledge, and involve the latest news from home and abroad. Famous figures are also included, so it drives us to expand our knowledge," said one of the contestants.
"I think many Chinese are cut off from their native culture. Fortunately we can reconnect with it. I think most people have forgotten just how fun solving riddles can be," said Prof. Meng Man at Minzu University of China.
All of the riddles have been chosen from a collection of 20,000 contributed by the public. The event is seen as another effort to promote Chinese characters and culture among the younger generation, and the finals on CCTV-1 put the skills of the young contestants to the ultimate test.
